London's economy will soon be firing on “all cylinders”, Boris Johnson forecast today.
The Mayor of London said the British economy had now been lifted “off the rocks” and was set to steam ahead.
Comparing it to the refloated Italian cruise ship the Costa Concordia, he was set to tell business chiefs in London: “The rotation has been accomplished and although the damage is manifest and the caissons have not yet been drained of debt, the keel is off the rocks and at last we can feel the motion beneath.
“I believe that in the next 18 months the London economy will really start firing on all cylinders.”
Attacking Labour, he warned against “handing back the wheel to the people who were on the bridge when we ran aground”.
As the economy moves up to “full steam”, Mr Johnson stressed to the Institute of Directors in London that the capital needs:
Competitive tax rates.
Improved airport capacity and other infrastructure.
A better deal from the EU.
To build 40,000 more homes a year.
“We are starting to see signs of an economic renaissance in Britain of a kind that my generation once thought would never come,” he was due to add, highlighting growing car exports to China and other countries.
But Labour joined Business Secretary Vince Cable in warning of the dangers of a housing bubble in London, fuelled by the extension of the Chancellor’s flagship Help-to-Buy scheme, as the economy recovers. Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna was expected to tell the business chiefs: “Rather than addressing the problems in our economy, I fear the Government is exacerbating them. Take just one example: the Chancellor’s signature Help to Buy scheme.
“It risks re-inflating the housing market unless we build more homes; and we have seen the lowest level of new homes built since the 1920s.”
But George Osborne, also speaking at the same event, insisted Britain “is turning a corner” though he also warned that “we have a long way to go”, saying: “Our economy is still in the early stages of recovery — unemployment and our deficit are both still too high.”
