Business has welcomed the content of Wednesday's Queen's Speech but put down markers that the government must remove unnecessary red-tape if it is to achieve its goal of making Britain the most pro-enterprise country in the world.

In the week that the chancellor said he would build upon Margaret Thatcher's success in economic liberalisation, John Cridland of the CBI said he welcomed moves to draft the private sector into public services.

"Business needs good services in areas such as health, education and transport. The private sector can make a huge contribution to delivering them," he said.

Cridland welcomed the enterprise bill but expressed reservations about Gordon Brown's attack on price-fixing.

"We welcome the drive to enhance competition and the principle of measures to deal with rogue traders and reform insolvency law. The proposals on competition policy are many and various and we will closely scrutinise them. That is especially true for the proposed criminal penalties for operators of cartels, which could be premature," he said.