Conservative Party conference: Cameron says sinner label 'insult' to finance

David Cameron said yesterday he is "sympathetic" to the financial services industry, which should not be cast as social "sinners".

Cameron told the Conservative Party conference the government's economic plans would be hard to deliver, but firms should not be split into good and bad businesses.

"You won't deliver... just by dividing industries into saints and sinners.

"That's not just an insult to the financial and insurance companies, accountancy firms and professional services that make us billions of pounds and create millions of jobs - it's much too simplistic," he told members.

The remark will be seen as a dig at Labour party leader's Ed Milliband, who said he wants to tax and regulate companies based on how socially responsible they are.

However Cameron warned big business it will have to contribute more to the economic recovery.

"The last thing I want to do it to pump the old economy back up - we want to build something new and better," he said. "We're not getting enough back from big business," he said.

Elsewhere Cameron said the government was still committed to cutting spending, but admitted it was "an anxious time" for consumers.

"This wasn't a normal recession", he said, adding that continuing to borrow on credit would not solve the debt crisis.

However, the PM faced controversy after he removed a key part of the speech - calling on homeowners to repay credit card debts.

He eventually delivered the line: "That is why households are paying down the credit card and store card bills", after a spokesperson said the original text of his speech had been "misinterpreted".

Public sector workers considering strike action "had a right to be aggrieved", he said, but that it was fair to "ask public servants to work a little longer and pay a little more". Hitting the same people who paid for their pension was unfair, he added.

Despite its commitment as a member of the IMF, he said the UK "will not be sucked further into a Eurozone bailout".

Cameron also called on governments across the world to “live within their means”.