Creating Jobs and Growth

• We are today proposing a new EU Compact for Jobs and Growth to generate strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

• Today the Prime Minister has met the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. Europe has confronted the first financial and economic crisis of the modern age. Emerging signs of recovery are promising but fragile. We are today proposing a new Compact for Jobs and Growth that binds together its institutions and Member States in a common cause of generating strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

• Europe's response to these challenges must be focused around six key priorities.

1. Fiscal policy that protects recovery and supports sustainable growth.
2. Creating new jobs and equipping our workforce with skills for the new economy.
3. Growing the innovative industries of the future.
4. Supporting business to take advantage of the Single Market.
5. Opening up global markets to trade and investment.
6. And a robust and competitive financial services sector.

• The Conservatives would drag Britain to the fringes of Europe, putting British jobs and businesses at risk.