May I start by most warmly congratulating Burgess Hill Means Business, in particular Peter Liddell and all those others responsible for organising, in this the fifth consecutive year, such a magnificent showcase of the tremendous diversity of skills, products and services available in Burgess Hill and through the wider business community.

It is little wonder it is so successful, since it really does provide an exceptional opportunity for businesses of all shapes and sizes, entrepreneurs, small business people and, of course, the serious networkers, to come together.

I have always been a staunch supporter of the Burgess Hill Business Parks Association and the exceptional work which I believe it has done to bring people together with the common aim of representing local businesses, and I am proud to have played some small role in its development.

This is a growing town with ambitious plans and great opportunities for its commercial life, for wealth creation and for jobs: we are indeed living in difficult financial times, but it is clear that business in Burgess Hill and the surrounding area is generally in rude good health with unemployment in the Mid Sussex constituency running at 1.4%, which is one of the lowest of the 650 United Kingdom constituencies.

The West Sussex County Council, Mid Sussex District Council and Burgess Hill Town Council are all wholly committed to the pro-Business, pro-growth agenda and they are good allies and supporters for all your efforts.

No-one here is complacent: we are indeed in a global race as a country and there remains the constant requirement for businesses of all sizes to be bold, forward-thinking, innovative and creative, and for them to take advantage of the superb location of this place and of the considerable advantage that that confers.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the United Kingdom economy in London and the South East is measurably as productive as any in Europe, not just because of the City’s world-leading financial services, something that is threatened at our peril, but just as importantly, because of the vibrancy of much of the wider South East economy, and its unique position to benefit from the tremendous opportunities of the global economy even in difficult times.

But over the last few years our economy has taken a veritable body blow. So the Government, in my judgement, can now most help business by developing a stable economic framework, something frankly that Governments the world over, together with regulators and financial institutions, have conspicuously failed to do over the last few years.

But I believe that economic value is not created by government but by individuals who have the insight, ability and determination, and of course the access to capital to realise that insight.

It is the determination of the Government therefore to drive the economy forward, to bring productivity and growth in the U.K. up to world standards, and to focus on getting the big things right and to addressing the stubborn, difficult and often politically unappealing challenges that have long held back, and still hold back, the U.K. economy from fulfilling its true potential.

Everyone here will be aware that our own national problems are serious. Many of the causes of Britain’s difficulties cannot justly be blamed on Brussels or even the banks: the dire state of too many of our schools and thus the worryingly poor skills of many young people: the decline in the size of our manufacturing industry such as the Germans sustain so well: and the difficulties of small business still labouring under too much regulation. All these are matters the Government are determined to try to resolve.

As you will have noticed in the Queen’s speech there were important announcements on the National Insurance Contributions Bill and the Deregulation Bill, both of which have been warmly welcomed by Business.

The success of our economy locally and nationally will depend on how we build our future economic growth around a tapestry of skills, science, finance and sound regulation all working in tandem.

I commend the work that BHBPA has undertaken in partnership with Oakmeeds Community College, Central Sussex College and local businesses to promote apprenticeships. Here in Mid Sussex we have witnessed an increase in apprenticeship numbers which is reflected across the country. In responding to the needs of employers the Government has announced two new major schemes; Traineeships and Higher Apprenticeships. I hope that local businesses will join me in welcoming the new Technical Baccalaureate which will give young people in Mid Sussex the opportunity to receive a rigorous vocational education and obtain the skills that employers value.

Ladies and Gentlemen – Britain is a trading nation. Every one of you business people here contributes to that endeavour. Our language, our time zone and our open economy put us in a very strong position to benefit from an expanding global economy about whose future I am incredibly optimistic. Indeed, we are still the 6th largest manufacturing nation in the world and we rate as world class in services such as law, accounting and biotechnology and the creative industries, for which the growing economies, such as India and China, have huge appetites. The truth is that the world is our oyster: but we do have to be serious about embracing change in this country and locally: indeed we have to welcome it if we are to ride this huge wave of opportunity, which we really must.

But be under no delusion that from where we stand in Burgess Hill today, in a very favoured and mainly economically successful powerhouse in the South East of England, it is still the reality of the global economy, and its profound impact which all of us must daily live and breathe, and which will give Great Britain its best chance of balancing the books and securing the economic prosperity for you and your families and our country for the future.

To conclude, with all Britain’s problems today; low growth, a giant deficit, big public debt and too high public spending, we are still one of the most open economies in the world. We still have so much of the best in the world, be it advanced engineering, higher education, science, the creative industries or indeed ordinary every day commerce. I meet every day young, talented men and women who do not just want to build new businesses and create new enterprises, but they want to feel that the embrace of the new ideas and the new technologies are absolutely central to our national purposes. Innovation has to be embedded in our culture both locally and nationally – it needs to be central to our national culture and our local story.

So good luck to all of you in what I know is a very difficult, challenging competitive, and difficult commercial world – but we see here around us in Burgess Hill how economic growth is built.