DAVID CAMERON is poised to announce his first major reshuffle. But new ideas and a new direction are more important than new faces about to be brought in to his Government.

No one should be under the illusion that the age of austerity is over.

Under-pressure councils are preparing their latest announcements about where the axe will fall. Indeed, we are aware that at least one major controversy will be unveiled by a local authority in our region later today.

But it has become increasingly clear that more and more cuts are not the answer. There has to be a clearer strategy on how the Government proposes to stimulate economic growth.

We do not recall agreeing with MP John Redwood very often over the years, but he is right when he says: “I don’t think the reshuffle is nearly as important as what the top team decide to do.”

While reshuffle predictions are notoriously risky, we do not expect to see the changes affect Chancellor George Osborne, Foreign Secretary William Hague or Home Secretary Theresa May. But we would not be surprised to see the changes feature Teesside -born Communities Minister Greg Clark taking a step up the political ladder.

Whoever is chosen by Mr Cameron, the Government will have to move quickly to create a sense of progress on the economy because there is a perception that the pain of public sector cuts is getting is nowhere.

We are heartened by the Prime Minister’s weekend declaration that he wants to “cut through the dither” that is holding back the economy.

There is talk of private sector construction projects, infrastructure investment, and house-building programmes.

We hope that the Government, old faces and new, sees the need to deliver more than further austerity.