British ministers are drawing up plans for a 50-billion-pound ($80-billion) housing and road-building programme harnessing private sector money, a newspaper reported on Sunday.     

With the euro zone debt crisis further clouding prospects for Britain's economy, finance minister George Osborne is under intense political pressure to find ways of spurring growth when he presents his financial statement to parliament on November 29.     

But he insists he will not deviate from his plans to cut Britain's swollen budget deficit, saying to do so would be to risk the country's hard-won credibility with the markets.     

The Sunday Times said Osborne wants private sector money held by pension fund managers and insurance companies to fund the infrastructure programme to boost the recovery.     

His plan is designed to prompt a surge of housebuilding and public sector construction projects, including power stations, social housing, super-fast broadband and toll roads, it said.     

These would be on top of 40 infrastructure projects already in the pipeline, including rail, road and national electricity grid improvements, which the government plans to speed up.     

The government hopes private investors, frustrated by low returns from government bonds, will invest in the schemes, the report said.      

The government said in June it would examine how to encourage greater investment in infrastructure projects.     

The newspaper said the government was determined to stick to its deficit targets. 'We will not be changing the government's capital spending envelope and we will not be issuing new bonds to fund this,' it quoted a Treasury source as saying.     

Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband accused the government on Saturday of making a fundamental mistake in choking off the economy a year ago by cutting spending and raising taxes too far and too fast.     

Labour plans to step up its calls this week for the government to act to foster jobs and growth. - Reuters