Prime Minister David Cameron heads east to Suffolk to highlight economic recovery

Prime Minster David Cameron during an earlier visit to Suffolk - at UCS in Ipswich in 2013. Archant

Prime Minister David Cameron is due in Suffolk today telling voters about his party’s plans to create thousands of new jobs.

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He is visiting the county to launch the Conservatives’ election pledge to build a Britain with full employment – and will outline a pledge to help people trying to set up a new business.

Mr Cameron will be outlining five commitments that would be at the heart of a Conservative government if his party wins an overall majority in May:

- Encourage enterprise and back small business, keeping jobs taxes low and cutting red tape.

- Invest in infrastructure to attract business and good jobs across the UK.

- Continue getting British people back to work by controlling immigration and delivering a robust welfare system for EU migrants.

- Reward work, help people into a job and lowering the benefit cap.

- Create three million new apprenticeships.

As he prepared for the visit, the Prime Minister said: “Full employment may be an economic term, but this is what it means in human terms: it means more of our fellow men and women with the security of a regular wage; it means you, your family and your children having a job and getting on in life.

“We have had a tough few years as a country, but we are coming out the other side. We are the jobs factory of Europe; we’re creating more jobs here than the rest of Europe put together. That’s what our long-term plan means for you – and if you vote Conservative, we can stay on this road to recovery.”

One concrete measure he is to unveil is a tripling of the number of start-up loans to new businesses to at least 75,000 by 2020.

This will mean that at least £300m of loan capital will be made available by private companies and not-for-profit organisations for new businesses – most loans are between £5,000 and £6,000.

Mr Cameron will say this is a key part of the Conservatives’ long term economic plan, giving at least 50,000 more aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to follow their dream of running their own business and creating tens of thousands of new jobs.

Government figures show that 25,000 Start Up Loans have been issued to date, creating an estimated 32,000 jobs. In the East of England 1,689 Start Up Loans have been issued to date.

Almost half of the recipients of the loans were previously unemployed, more than a third live in the most deprived areas of the country and a quarter are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Mr Cameron added: “The Conservatives are the party of small businesses. We’re the party of the roofers and the retailers; the builders and the businesswomen.

“We’re the ones who back people who strike out on their own, take the risks, and create wealth and jobs in our country. These are people we admire and want to help.

“Other parties preach about this sort of stuff; but we’re the ones who really deliver. That’s why we began Start Up Loans – to help people with a smart idea make their first sale. And in the next Parliament, we’re going to treble it.”