Although the Virgin Group boss insisted he is still apolitical, his comments followed a private meeting last week with David Cameron and George Osborne in which he told the Conservative leaders that he agreed with their plans to cut the deficit immediately.
Sir Richard told The Daily Telegraph: "I believe the UK's record budget deficit does pose a serious risk to our economy's recovery – you only have to look at some other countries to see that.
"It would be deeply damaging to Britain if we lost the confidence of the global financial markets through delayed action and saw interest rates have to go up steeply.”
He added: “The next Government, whatever party that is, must set out a credible plan to reduce the bulk of the deficit over a Parliament by cutting wasteful spending and must not put off those tough decisions to next year.”
The Government has said it would not begin to pay off the deficit until 2011, arguing that withdrawing the fiscal stimulus too early would damage the recovery.
In one of the key points of difference between the two main parties in the run up to the General Election, the Conservatives have said they would hold an emergency budget within the first 50 days that would introduce spending cuts this year. However, more recently Mr Cameron said there would not be "swingeing cuts" immediately.
Sir Richard has joined other business and economic leaders in calling for even faster action on Britain’s debt problem.
At the weekend a group of 20 senior economists signed a letter saying their was "a compelling case" for the first measures to cut the deficit straight after the election.
The signatories included the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England and head of the Financial Services Authority, and a former permanent secretary to the Treasury and cabinet secretary.
The letter said: "In order to be credible, the Government's goal should be to eliminate the structural current budget deficit over the course of a parliament, and there is a compelling case, all else equal, for the first measures beginning to take effect in the 2010-11 fiscal year."
Sir Richard said that failure to act would “threaten to undermine the confidence of international and UK business, UK consumers and the global financial markets.”
He said: “As an entrepreneur I know that could cost jobs and reduce investment in Britain. We must send a clear signal that we have the issues in hand and a clear strategy for UK plc."
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