Cameron to say UK's 'safety' is paramount in eurozone crisis

Cameron to say UK's 'safety' is paramount in eurozone crisis

David Cameron is to insist it is his job to "keep Britain safe" whatever the fate of the eurozone.

In a speech to business leaders in Manchester, the PM is expected to say the euro area is at a "crossroads" and could go into "unchartered territory".

Greece's inability to form a government able to push through austerity plans has led to talk of it exiting the euro.

The PM will insist the UK is on the right economic course. Labour say the recession is all the coalition's fault.

In recent days, government ministers have used increasingly strong language to describe the political deadlock in Greece and its damaging impact on other European economies.

At Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said the eurozone either had to resolve its problems quickly or face a potential break-up.

'Clear task'
In a speech to business leaders in the North West of England, the PM is expected to return to the theme - warning the problems in Greece and the survival of the euro are a "crisis that never really went away".

"Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well capitalised and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the Eurozone or we are in unchartered territory which carries huge risks for everybody," he is expected to say.

"As I have consistently said it is in Britain's interest for the eurozone to sort out its problems.

"But be in no doubt: whichever path is chosen, I am prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect this country and secure our economy and financial system."

'Right direction'
Faced with the knock-on effects of the eurozone crisis, Mr Cameron will say that he has "a clear task" which is "to keep Britain safe".

He will defend the coalition's austerity measures, saying the programme of spending cuts, tax rises and pay freezes is already having the desired effect of reducing the deficit.

"Let me be clear, we are moving in the right direction - not rushing the task but judging it carefully. And that is why we must resist dangerous voices calling on us to retreat.

He will describe Labour calls for the pace of spending cuts to be slowed as "something for nothing economics".

"We cannot blow the budget on more spending and more debt. It would mean more austerity for even longer. It is not an alternative policy, it is a cop-out."

'Out of touch'
Labour said Mr Cameron was using the eurozone crisis as "an excuse for Britain's problems" and should instead be urging Europe to rethink its approach to austerity and the role of the European Central Bank.

"David Cameron is totally out of touch and deeply complacent if he thinks Britain is on the right course," shadow chancellor Ed Balls said.

"His failed policies have pushed us into recession and the government is now set to borrow an extra £150bn to pay for this economic failure.

"David Cameron must recognise the austerity policies which are failing in Europe are the very same policies that have failed in Britain and which the British government has been urging eurozone countries to stick with."

The Bank of England has again downgraded its forecast for growth in 2012 to just 0.8% with Governor Mervyn King attributing UK weakness to fissures in the single currency bloc.


Source: BBC

Retailers predict new Cyber Monday

Online retailers are predicting that today could become Britain’s biggest pre-Christmas shopping day as a new survey reveals UK consumers are embracing technology to buy on the web far faster than other countries.

Retailers now claim today is the 'real' Cyber Monday Photo: ALAMY

Research by KPMG shows 77 per cent of British shoppers prefer to buy goods like CDs, DVDs, books and video games online - compared with 65 per cent globally.

Data collected from 9,600 consumers aged between the ages of 16 and 65, across 31 countries, also found that 74 per cent of UK consumers said they were more likely to buy flights and holidays online, and six in 10 used some form of online grocery shopping.

In the US, by contrast, the same numbers would book flights but only 21 per cent said they were more likely to buy groceries online.

Tudor Aw, KPMG's European head of technology, said: "From buying goods on their mobile phones to keeping up with friends on social networks, consumers are increasingly reliant on a range of technologies that perform important - yet often overlapping – tasks.

“This new 'converged lifestyle' will have huge implication for retailers.”

Yesterday, Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, said it hopes that today’s online spending will match last year's “Cyber Monday”, when more than 2.3 million items were bought in just 24 hours.

Previously it had been suggested that last Monday would be the biggest day for online retailers but the managing director of Amazon's UK division, Christopher North, said that past experience actually shows that it is the first Monday of December.

He was backed up by the British Retail Consortium and other retail firms including John Lewis.

Mr North said: "Mondays remain the busiest shopping day in the run-up to Christmas, but every day of that week will see high sales."

The early Christmas shopping spree is said to be driven by a number of factors including the date of many consumers’ last payday before Christmas, which for millions of people was in the last week. Fears that bad weather may affect the delivery dates of presents might also contribute to the rise.

Andrew Starkey, the head of e-logistics at Interactive Media in Retail Group, forecast that £3.72bn would be spent online during the two weeks ending 12 December.

He said: "Last Monday was the first peak in the year, 5 December is expected to be bigger but, while 12 December is unlikely to fall off too much, I believe this early rise shows that consumers are becoming wary of bad weather affecting deliveries – last Christmas deliveries that were meant to take one to two days became far longer."

Maureen Hinton, a retail analyst at the research firm Verdict, said: "We find on a weekly basis that people aren't using credit – they spend wages and savings instead. I think this weekend we'll see a big rise."

Meanwhile, internet users are expected spend more than 350 million hours shopping online for Christmas presents during December, according to figures from Experian Hitwise.

Britons will spend £13.4bn in cyber shops this Christmas, the Centre for Retail Research has found, with purchases made from a mobile phone accounting for at least 12 per cent of online spending.

"Lego" is expected to be the most searched for toy product throughout the country during the festive period.

December 19, also a Monday, is expected to be the busiest day for online food sales as people scramble to do some last minute grocery shopping before Christmas Day.

Social media usage, in the lead up to and on the day of Christmas, is expected to be the highest yet, with British web users expected to spend more than 25 million hours online on December 25 alone.

James Murray, marketing research analyst at Experian Hitwise, said: “Christmas 2011 looks set to be another record-breaker for many of the online sectors and particularly for retail.”