Jeremy Hunt will vow to use 'British genius' to turbo-charge growth  trends now

Jeremy Hunt will pledge to transform ‘British genius and hard work’ into long-term prosperity.

Setting out a plan for growth, the Chancellor is to hit out at the ‘declinism’ peddled by Labour and say this country is well placed to exploit ‘the growth sectors which will define this century’.

He will insist that downbeat projections from gloomy forecasters ‘do not reflect the whole picture’ and argue that the economy is standing up well against global rivals.

Making ‘the case for optimism’, he will claim EU red tape has held back investment and productivity but future growth can be ‘built on the freedoms which Brexit provides’.

Mr Hunt told a Cabinet ‘awayday’ at Chequers yesterday that the Government could meet Rishi Sunak’s pledges to halve inflation, kick start growth and rein in debt.

But he warned it would require tight control over spending, including resisting union calls for pay rises that could fuel price rises.

Tory MPs pushing for tax cuts in the March Budget are also set to be disappointed, with the Chancellor expected to warn today that the battle against inflation comes first.

Mr Hunt will pledge a relentless focus on key industries of the future in which the UK has a ‘competitive advantage’, such as digital technology, green industries, the life sciences, advanced manufacturing and the creative sector.

‘Our plan for the years that follow is long-term prosperity based on British genius and British hard work ... and world-beating enterprises to make Britain the world’s next Silicon Valley,’ he will say.

Mr Hunt told ministers yesterday that he believes the economy will be out of recession and growing again by autumn – and inflation will be significantly lower.

In his speech today, he will argue that, although UK growth has slowed since the financial crash, it has remained ahead of France, Japan and Italy – and point out that the economy has kept pace with Germany’s since the EU referendum.

‘Declinism about Britain was wrong in the past – and it is wrong today,’ he will say. ‘Some of the gloom is based on statistics that do not reflect the whole picture. If we look further ahead, the case for declinism becomes weaker still. The UK is poised to play a leading role in Europe and across the world in the growth sectors which will define this century.’

The Mail revealed yesterday that Mr Hunt will scrap EU rules that prevent pension funds and insurance firms from investing in infrastructure, potentially releasing £100billion in private sector investment over the next decade.

He will also highlight reforms to City regulation and plans to review more than 4,000 EU laws still on the statute book.

A Whitehall source said: ‘Britain is already diverging from the EU. It is not just about us tearing up their laws in places where they no longer suit our needs, it is also the fact that they have kept regulating at a relentless pace.

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