Cameron to refocus energy on revitalising British economy

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron is likely to put even greater energy into re-energising the domestic economy to create daylight between Britain and ailing European economies.

Apart from the now growing unlikelihood of Nicolas Sarkozy retaining his French presidential throne, the global investor approval for British monetary separatism is likely to be a clear trend to emerge from the weekend’s downgrading by Standard & Poors of the credit rating of the French, Austrian and other economies when the world’s stock markets re-open this morning.

Even though Mr Sarkozy has been highly critical of Britain’s separatist monetary policy, Mr Cameron said relatively little at the weekend, wisely conscious that almost any statement could be read as gloating at France’s misfortune.

Nonetheless, his mission to forge ahead with Britain’s economic recovery was spelled out quite clearly for him by everyone from global economists to media commentators in yesterday’s British Sunday newspapers.

Instead, Mr Cameron sent out British Foreign Secretary William Hague to explain how the Conservatives are now set to capitalise on the emerging economic picture in the ailing eurozone.

Mr Hague said that the latest string of credit downgrades in the eurozone would require Britain to “redouble our efforts” to boost economic growth.

He claimed the renewed questions over the credit-worthiness of countries, including France, also demonstrated the importance of the coalition government’s deficit reduction strategy.

Standard & Poor’s stripped France of its gold-plated AAA credit rating on Friday, and also lowered the long-term ratings on Austria, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia, by one notch.

The rating levels for Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Spain were dropped two notches.

Mr Hague said the ratings did not in themselves bring closer the prospect of the demise of the euro.

But, speaking to Sky News, he said: “This is serious, it underlines the fact that the eurozone is not through its problems.

“We want it to be stable and healthy. That’s in our national interest. But it means that across Europe, including the UK, we need to redouble our efforts to get growth going.”

That meant more free trade agreements with the rest of the world, advances in the European single market and less regulations that damage business, he said.

Those were the demands that Prime Minister David Cameron would be taking to the next meeting of the European Council at the end of this month, Mr Hague added.

He also claimed that Labour’s plans to reduce the deficit more slowly would put Britain’s AAA credit rating at risk.

“These events do underline the importance of what we are doing here in the UK,” he said.

Asked about Foreign Office contingency planning to rescue Britons living in Europe in the event of the collapse of the euro, Mr Hague said that did not mean he thought it was going to happen.

“It’s our job to prepare for what may happen, however unlikely it may be. So yes, we do have contingency plans for a variety of events that may happen in the eurozone over the coming months. We wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t do that.”

The S&P downgrading was carefully timed to hit the world’s media only after the New York Stock Exchange had ceased trading, creating a weekend of tension for those impacted.