Every government must accept the need for fiscal discipline, the leader of the Labour Party told the National Executive Council of the employers' group IBEC yesterday.

Mr Pat Rabbitte said every government must also accept the need for good management, an insistence on value for money, and a strong focus on competitiveness throughout the economy.

Labour stood by the corporation tax level fixed by the Rainbow cabinet in May 1997, because it has been a useful element in industrial strategy.

He "strongly believed that government had to encourage enterprise, treat people at work fairly, and provide reasonable incentives for development and wealth creation.

"I have no difficulty in saying, at the outset, that responsible economic management will be a sine qua non for the coming together of the alternative government."

Mr Rabbitte told the business leaders he hoped to give the people a choice at the next general election.

He believed a great many people in business were concerned about what had happened in less privileged parts of the community.

Marginalisation, deprivation and disadvantage were corrosive of the community and damaged every interest in it, including business interests.

IBEC director general Mr Turlough O'Sullivan said he agreed with Mr Rabbitte's concerns about inequality.

Social cohesion was good for the economy, and competitiveness was good for society, he said.