In his address to the business group Confederation of British Industry, the prime minister talked of the necessity of opening up access to finance and creating an attractive environment for venture capital funding.

He discussed the need to get banks lending to small businesses again and the requirement that government procurement budgets are spent with small and medium-sized enterprises.

The prime minister also revealed plans to merge the competition functions of the Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission to create a ‘much tougher and more streamlined competition regime.’

Cameron says: ‘British business should have no more vocal champion than the British government and that’s why I have put the promotion of British commerce and international trade at the heart of our foreign and economic policy. Today we can create the conditions in which businesses can thrive.’