Top Tory attacks Government's economy plans

The coalition's plans for the economy have come under fire from a senior Conservative backbencher and chairman of the Treasury Select Committee.

Andrew Tyrie told The Times that the Government still did not have a "coherent and credible" plan for growth - echoing Labour leader Ed Miliband's attack during Labour's conference this week.

"There is much to do, and it is not just a question of gaps in policy," Mr Tyrie said.

"A coherent and credible plan for the long-term economic growth rate of the UK economy is needed.

"The Big Society; localism; the green strategy - whether right or wrong; these and other initiatives have seemed at best irrelevant to the task in hand, if not downright contradictory to it; likewise the huge spending hike on overseas aid and the cost of the Libyan expedition."

Speaking before the release of a report he has written for the Centre for Policy Studies, Mr Tyrie said current policy did not "adequately recognise" the fact that "the age of abundance has been replaced by the age of austerity".

He strongly supported the Government's line on tackling the immediate crisis, it was reported.

But he said the Government had "a long way to go" to arrive at a coherent strategy for securing better economic performance in the long term.

The GMB union responded to the Conservative Party's proposals on employment rights, saying: "The Tory Party is increasingly being funded by the asset strippers and predators. That explains why the Tories want to reduce the employment rights of ordinary workers not to be sacked from their livelihoods unfairly. They are the same old nasty Tories now in the pockets of the predatory elite." PA