The director general of the CBI John Cridland has said the government cannot afford to slow down the austerity programme and that any government under-spend be used to pay down the deficit.

He was outlining the employers organisation's submission to the Treasury ahead of next month's budget after recent figures showed there the Chancellor George Osborne was borrowing slightly less than was expected, leaving £10bn unspent.

Mr Cridland went on to say that private investors not investing due to "lack of confidence" but that they can be encouraged by government changes to tax and investment.

The outcry over executive pay was not helping business, he said, as removing rewards for success "can't be right".

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