COMPANIES are entering 2006 in a state of unease as major decisions loom on the economy, pensions and energy, business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) warned yesterday.

The CBI said British jobs and competitiveness were at stake amid uncertainty as companies wait for the Government to clarify its intentions on key issues.

It also warned that a "sizeable" deficit in the Treasury's accounts could lead to another tax raid on business following the recent levy on the oil industry.

CBI president John Sunderland said: "Businesses like clarity when planning future investment decisions, but as we enter 2006, there are a great many policy balls up in the air.

"If the Government drops any of these, British jobs and British competitiveness will suffer."

The coming year will see announcements on key issues, such as nuclear energy, with the Government due to reveal whether it will permit a new generation of nuclear power stations.

Ministers will also say whether they will implement the proposals of the Pensions Commission on the future of pensions provision in the UK.

Mr Sunderland said the 2006 Budget would probably be Chancellor Gordon Brown's most critical, saying the country's economic stability had weakened in 2005 and that "creeping taxation" had eroded competitiveness.

He said: "Trying to fix a £10bn black hole through greater borrowing sounds like pouring more water into a leaky bucket and, if that tap runs out, the next could be another tax raid on business.''

"Companies would feel more reassured if it saw the Government making real efforts to mend the bucket and slow the rate of public spending growth."