The Confederation of British Industry has criticised Gordon Brown's spending targets for the public sector, calling for the chancellor to take a more measured approach.

Brown's imminent Comprehensive Spending Review has set out a 2% increase in spending growth but the CBI has called for this to be limited to a 1.6% increase, believing that this would allow for £8bn-worth of tax cuts.

The CBI recommended that corporates should be afforded the reliefs, and warned that if the cuts to the spending plans were not made, the tax burden could rise to crippling levels.  

Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economic adviser said: 'For the CSR to be credible it must rigorously prioritise its objectives to make the most of its limited resources, while boosting the quantity and quality of services through a radical transformation of the way public services are commissioned and delivered.'

Further reading:

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