Cameron unveiling $1.6B in new projects

LONDON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron plans to unveil funding for $1.6 billion for projects he said would create 35,000 jobs, a deputy prime minister said.

The Daily Telegraph reported Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Cameron's plan calls for new investment in more than 100 projects that should bring billions of pounds of additional spending in the private sector.

"What we're trying to do is invest public money, taxpayers' money, into companies which can create jobs that last," Clegg said on a BBC program.

For every pound invested from a "regional growth fund," he said, the government estimates the private sector will spend 6 pounds.

Clegg said the projects include two new power stations among six "shovel-ready" projects.

"We are trying to rewire the British economy so we are less reliant on the city of London and financial services and we're giving more backing to manufacturing and to parts of the country which for too long were basically reliant on handouts from Whitehall," he said.

The Telegraph said Britain has been struggling to rebound from the recession and economists expected only a slight increase in the gross domestic project from July to September.

The projects being announced will benefit industries including the telecommunications, services, hospitality, electronics and automotive sectors, Whitehall sources said.