'Get a grip,' CBI boss urges MPs

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Politicians must "get a grip" on the economic problems facing the UK, the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) director general has warned.

Richard Lambert told the CBI South East region's annual dinner that the UK faced a "burning platform moment" and risked "going down with the ship".

The UK's fiscal deficit was on a scale never seen in peacetime, he added.

But he warned MPs were "preoccupied" with "the Westminster village" as a result of public "rage" over expenses.

'Big picture'

Mr Lambert said: "The United Kingdom faces some of the biggest economic, social and environmental challenges of our lifetime - challenges that go right to the very heart of what kind of country we want this to be.

"We can either take the bold steps that will be necessary to take us forward to a prosperous but different kind of future, or we can pretend to ignore the need for change, and risk going down with the ship."

In 10 short years, we will have almost turned ourselves into France Richard LambertDirector General, CBI

But "instead of focusing on this big picture", he said, MPs were "doing what they can to strengthen their own positions over the short term".

Turning to the expenses scandal, he warned: "In response to this public rage, politicians are airily throwing around ideas for constitutional reform - ideas which may be desirable in themselves and will need serious discussion in calmer times, but which are a massive diversion at a time when so many urgent policy decisions have to be agreed and implemented."

Mr Lambert said that in 2000, public spending as a share of gross domestic product had been 15% lower in the UK than in France - but in 2010, that gap would probably be down to 4%.

"In 10 short years, we will have almost turned ourselves into France," he added.