Gordon Brown should not consider imposing any new taxes on businesses, the CBI has warned.

In its submission to the Treasury ahead of the Budget, the business organisation urged the chancellor to put stability first.

Despite record profits reported by banks and oil companies, director general Sir Digby Jones said the government should not implement any windfall taxes.

"Windfall taxes may be seen in certain quarters as somehow justifiable punishment for record profits, but if highly successful global companies take the view that the UK has become hostile they will simply move their operations elsewhere," he said.