CBI Annual conference in London: David Cameron speech

CBI Annual conference in London: David Cameron speech; ENGLAND: London: INT Helen Alexander (President, CBI) introducing David Cameron SOT David Cameron MP (Leader, Conservative Party) speech SOT - It's great to have this opportunity to speak to you today. Let's be frank about the conditions we're meeting in. We are at the end of the longest and deepest recession since the war. We face the largest deficit in our peacetime history. Unemployment is at two and a half million and we should not forget there are also nearly three million people on long-term out-of-work benefits. One in five young people is out of work. And last month our economy was overtaken by Italy. Of one thing there can be no doubt: we cannot go on like this. This is the last time I will speak to the CBI before Britain goes to the polls. And I know if the Conservatives win that election, our time in office will be judged on whether we get Britain out of this mess. If we build lasting and sustainable growth and deal with the deficit, we will be a success. If we don't, we won't. So today, I want to be very direct with you - and tackle head on the big questions you have about my Party and this economic crisis. The first is: what are you going to do about the deficit? And the second is: how will you help to get the economy growing again? - Let's start with the most pressing of those questions - what we'll do about the deficit. Our national debt has doubled in the last five years. Our annual deficit next year is forecast to be over 170 billion pounds. This year we are predicted to borrow almost 14 per cent of our GDP. That's nearly twice as much as when we nearly went bankrupt in the 1970s. We're borrowing so much that next year, the Government will spend more money on the interest on our debt than on schools. And the latest monthly figures show that public borrowing is 88 times what it was in the same month last year. Now there are some who say this doesn't pose a massive risk to our economy. I...