Nigeria Content Online

This week Britain’s
coalition government announced its spending plans for the next four
years. We are taking urgent steps to reduce the national debt and deal
with the fiscal legacy we inherited. We have shown that we have the
resolve and determination to live within our means. And we have set out
to reinvigorate Britain’s diplomatic engagement with the world,
elevating our links with the fastest growing economies and championing
Britain as a home for business and investment. We understand that
economic recovery starts at home, but that we have to look beyond our
shores for new opportunities and new partners.

The scale of the
economic challenge is formidable. We inherited one of the largest
budget deficits in Europe and the G20. But we have a clear vision for
the future of our country. We have chosen to spend on the country’s
most important priorities – the health care of our people, the
education of our young, our nation’s security and the infrastructure
that supports our economic growth.

We are building a
fairer and more responsible society, with more opportunity for people
to lift themselves out of poverty, and with state support focused on
those who need it most. We are reforming public services – improving
transparency and accountability, giving more power and responsibility
to citizens and enabling sustainable long term improvements in
services. And we are building a stronger economy, with more jobs,
investment and growth for a private sector-led recovery.

We have protected
as far as possible those areas of public spending which matter for
economic growth and pursued reforms to make these more cost-effective.

We know that we
cannot have sustainable growth in the economy without healthy public
finances. We have created a new independent Office for Budgetary
Responsibility, so that the power to determine the growth and fiscal
forecasts now resides with an independent body immune to the
temptations of the political cycle. And we have pledged to eliminate
the UK’s structural deficit by the end of this Parliament, which has
been welcomed by the International Monetary Fund as a necessary path to
ensuring fiscal sustainability and a balanced recovery.

Our Spending Review
is part of an ambitious plan to create a business environment that is
one of the most competitive anywhere in the world. We understand that
the British economy of the future must be one that is built on
investment, saving and exports, and are determined to use our tough
plans for fiscal consolidation as a springboard for growth and recovery
through the private sector.

From 2011 we will
gradually reduce corporation tax to 24 per cent, giving Britain the
lowest in the G7 and one of the lowest in the G20. We will reduce the
small profits rate of corporation tax to 20 per cent. We will lower
capital gains tax for entrepreneurs.

And we will cut
National Insurance contributions for employers, extend help to small
businesses needing to access credit, and make Britain the easiest place
in the world to start a business.

But let us not
forget that throughout the recession the UK has remained the sixth
largest economy in the world. We have one of the most flexible labour
markets in Europe and, according to the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, the least number of barriers to
entrepreneurship in the world. Our unrivalled financial services
industry, our strong skills base, our global outlook and orientation,
our creative talents, our world class universities and our central
position etween Asian and American time zones all demonstrate that we
have an open economy and we are open for business.

So we have a strong
base on which to build. With that in mind, we want to inject a new
commercial focus into our relationship here in Nigeria.

We are aware our
two countries already enjoy an important trade relationship. Trade
between the UK and Nigeria increased by 67% from the year 2007 to the
year 2009, and in the last year alone, UK goods and services exports
reached the value of £2.3 billion indicating that Nigeria is a key
destination for British firms keen to invest in Africa.

The UK is one of
the largest investors in Nigeria, in sectors from oil and gas to
financial services, to agriculture. As His Royal Highness The Duke of
Gloucester stated during his recent visit to mark the 50th anniversary
of Nigeria as an independent nation, Nigeria is and will continue to be
a key international partner for the UK. So we are confident that we are
taking the right steps at home and abroad to help economic recovery in
our own countries, and to contribute to a stable and prosperous global
economy.

William Hague MP, is United Kingdom First Secretary of State, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs