THE boss of Hampshire based B&Q is among a group of 35 business leaders who have today backed the Chancellor’s budget cuts.

Ian Cheshire, chief executive of Kingsfisher, which owns the Chandlers Ford DIY giant, joined Marks & Spencer chairman Sir Stuart Rose and Asda chairman Andy Bond in signing a letter supporting George Osborne's deficit reduction strategy.

The letter was also signed by John Nelson, the chairman of Hammerson, the developer behind a £150m plan to extend the WestQuay shopping centre in Southampton with new shops, restaurants, a 14-screen cinema and 240 apartments. It will create 1,000 jobs.

The letter said there was ''no reason to believe'' that Mr Osborne's plan to eliminate the £109 billion structural deficit within four years will undermine the recovery.

The 35 businessmen insisted that ''the private sector should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector, and the redeployment of people to more productive activities will improve economic performance, so generating more employment opportunities.''

And the letter warned that Labour's plan to spread deficit reduction over more than one Parliament would be a ''mistake'' which would leave the UK almost £100 billion deeper in debt by 2014/15 and increase the risk of interest rate hikes.

The letter comes as a boost for the Chancellor just two days ahead of Wednesday's crucial comprehensive spending review, in which he will spell out plans for £83 billion of public spending cuts over four years.