Do any party leaders deliver on social justice?

[nickd]

On Mylegal we're going to be taking a neutral look at the three main party conferences and look at what their leader's say in their key note speeches. Our emphasis, as always being on which party and which party leader, offers those in search of social justice the most hope that it may just appear on their agenda.

So far we've seen little more than the odd glimmer.


Today, we start off with Nick Clegg...








What happened to the King-maker?



Nick Clegg's conference speech

3:58PM BST 21 Sep 2011

"Liberal Democrats, we have now been in Government for 500 days. Not easy, is it? None of us thought it would be a walk in the park, but I suspect none of us predicted just how tough it would turn out to be. We’ve lost support, we’ve lost councillors, and we lost a referendum. I know how painful it has been to face anger and frustration on the doorstep.

Some of you may have even wondered: Will it all be worth it in the end? It will be. And today I want to explain why.

But above all I want to pay tribute to you. Your resilience. Your grace under fire. I have been genuinely moved by your spirit and your strength. Thank you. Thank you, above all, for never forgetting what we are in politics for. After the May elections, Alex Cole-Hamilton, one of our defeated candidates in Edinburgh said that if losing was part payment for ending child detention then, as he said: “I accept it, with all my heart.”

That is the liberal spirit and that is something we will never lose. The spirit that gave birth to our party a century and half ago, that kept us alive when the other two parties tried to kill us off. The spirit that means however great our past, our fight will always be for a better future.

Down in Westminster we’ve been vilified like never before. The Left and the Right didn’t like us much in opposition. They like us a whole lot less in Government. The Left accuse us of being powerless puppets, duped by a right wing Conservative clique.
The Right accuse us of being a sinister left wing clique, who’ve duped powerless Conservatives. I do wish they’d make up their mind.

So yes, it has been hard. And adversity tests the character of a party just as it tests any person. We’ve shown – you’ve shown – immense strength. After being hit hard, we picked ourselves up and we came out fighting. Fighting to keep the NHS safe. Fighting to protect human rights. Fighting to create jobs. Fighting for every family. Not doing the easy thing, but doing the right thing. Not easy, but right.

And as for all those seats we lost in May, let me tell you this: I won’t rest, we won’t rest, until we’ve won every single one of those seats back.

These may not be easy times for us as a party. But much more importantly: These are not easy times for the country. Economic insecurity. Conflict and terrorism. Disorder flaring up on our streets. Times like these can breed protectionism and populism. So times like these are when liberals are needed most. Our party has fought for liberal values for a century and half: justice, optimism, freedom. We’re not about to give up now.

This conference centre is on the site of the old Bingley Hall where William Gladstone stood a hundred and thirty years ago to found the National Liberal Federation. Gladstone observed that day that Birmingham had shown it was no place for ‘weak-kneed Liberalism’. No change there then.

So we are strong. United. True to our values. Back in Government and on your side.In Government you’re faced with hard choices every day. The question is how you make them. Some ask ‘how can we get a market to work here?’ Others ‘how can this win us more votes?’ A few ‘what will the press think?’ For liberals, the litmus test is always the national interest. Not doing the easy thing. Doing the right thing.

And that takes a certain kind of character. One which we’ve seen on display over the last few months. And indeed the last few days here in Birmingham. Brave. Principled. Awkward. Resolute. Optimistic. Unstoppable. No I'm not just talking about Paddy Ashdown. I am talking about everyone in this hall.
But I think people still need to know more about the character of our party. Not just how we govern, but why. We proved something about ourselves last year, when we faced a historic choice: Whether or not to enter Government in coalition with the Conservatives.

The easy thing would have been to sit on the opposition benches throwing rocks at the Government as it tried to get control of the public finances. It might even, in the short run, have been more popular, but it would not have been right. At that moment, Britain needed a strong government.

Alistair Darling’s recent book is called "Back from the Brink" - in reality Labour left us on the brink. Teetering on the edge of an economic precipice. So we put aside party differences for the sake of the national interest. People before politics. Nation before party. And while other countries have been riven by political bickering, we have shown that a coalition forged in a time of emergency could be a different kind of government, governing differently.

Because let me tell you this: You don’t play politics at a time of national crisis. You don’t play politics with the economy. And you never, ever play politics with people’s jobs.
Our first big decision was to clear the structural deficit this parliament. To wipe the slate clean by 2015. This has meant painful cuts. Agonisingly difficult decisions. Not easy, but right. Because handing control of the economy to the bond traders: that’s not progressive.

Burying your head in the sand: that’s not liberal. Saddling our children with the nation’s debt: that’s not fair.
Labour says: the Government is going too far, too fast. I say, Labour would have offered too little, too late. Imagine if Ed Miliband and Ed Balls had still been in power. Gordon Brown’s backroom boys when Labour was failing to balance the books, failing to regulate the financial markets, and failing to take on the banks. The two Eds, behind the scenes, lurking in the shadows, always plotting, always scheming, never taking responsibility. At this time of crisis what Britain needs is real leadership. This is no time for the back room boys. Labour’s economy was based on bad debt and false hope. Labour got us into this mess. But they are clueless about how to get us out. Another term of Labour would have been a disaster for our economy. So don’t for a moment let Labour get away with it. Don’t forget the chaos and fear of 2008. And never, ever trust Labour with our economy again.

Government has brought difficult decisions. Of course the most heart wrenching for me, for all of us, was on university funding. Like all of you, I saw the anger. I understand it. I felt it. I have learned from it. And I know how much damage this has done to us as a party. By far the most painful part of our transition. From the easy promises of opposition to the invidious choices of Government.

Probably the most important lesson I have learned is this: No matter how hard you work on the details of a policy, it’s no good if the perception is wrong. We can say until we’re blue in the face that no one will have to pay any fees as a student, but still people don’t believe it. That once you’ve left university you’ll pay less, week in week out, than under the current system, but still people don’t believe it. That the support given to students from poorer families will increase dramatically, but still people don’t believe it.
The simple truth is that the Conservatives and Labour were both set on increasing fees, and in those circumstances we did the best thing we could. Working tirelessly to ensure anyone who wants to go to university can. Freeing part time students from up front fees for the first time. Ensuring fairer repayments for all graduates. But we failed to properly explain those dilemmas. We failed to explain that there were no other easy options. And we have failed so far to show that the new system will be much, much better than people fear.

So: lessons learned. But the most important thing now is to get out there and show that university is for everyone. We should all take a leaf out of Simon Hughes’ book - who has been busting a gut as the Government’s Advocate for Access. Travelling the country, explaining the new system and finding ways to get young people from all backgrounds to apply to university. Simon didn’t like the decision we made, and for reasons I respect. But rather than sitting back he has rolled up his sleeves and got on with making the new system work. Simon, thank you.
Right now, our biggest concern is of course the economy. The recovery is fragile. Every worker, every family knows that. There is a long, hard road ahead. In the last few days alone we have seen a financial storm in the Eurozone. Rising unemployment. Falling stock markets.

So we were right to pull the economy back from the brink. It is clearer now than ever that deficit reduction was essential to protect the economy, to protect homes and jobs. Deficit reduction lays the foundations for growth. But on its own it is not enough. That’s why we’re already: investing in infrastructure, reducing red tape, promoting skills, getting the banks lending. But the outlook for the global economy has got worse. So we need to do more, we can do more, and we will do more for growth and for jobs.
Because we’re not in politics just to repair the damage done by Labour, to glue back together the pieces of the old economy. We are here to build a new economy. A new economy safe from casino speculation. That’s why a Liberal Democrat business secretary is putting a firewall into the banking system.
Protecting the people who have worked hard and saved. A new economy that safeguards the environment. That’s why a Liberal Democrat environment secretary is creating the world’s first Green Investment Bank, spending three billion pounds to create green jobs.

A new economy where the lowest-paid get to keep the money they earn. That’s why a Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury has put two hundred pounds into the pocket of every basic rate taxpayer and taken almost a million workers – most of them women – out of income tax altogether.

A new economy based on skills. That’s why one Liberal Democrat minister is creating a quarter of a million new apprenticeships, and another is investing in schools and early years education.
A new economy that works for families. Where men and women can choose how to balance work and home. That’s why Liberal Democrats are bringing in shared parental leave and more flexible working.

And a new economy run for ordinary people rather than big finance. After the so-called masters of the universe turned out to be masters of destruction instead. Which is why when we come to sell those bank shares, I want to see a payback to every citizen. Your money was put at risk. Your money was used to bail out the banks. And so the money made by the banks is your money, too. An economy for everyone: In Scotland, Wales, in every part of the United Kingdom. For women and men. Young, old. Town, country. North, South. A new economy for the whole nation.
Because as Liberal Democrats we act for the whole nation. In our long, proud liberal history, we have never served: the media moguls, the union barons or the bankers. We do not serve, and we will never serve, vested interests. We are in nobody’s pocket. That’s why we can make decisions in the national interest: Not easy, but right.

That’s why we speak up, first and loudest, when the establishment lets the people down. In the last three years, we’ve seen establishment institutions exposed one by one. The City of London, shattered by the greed of bankers. The media, corrupted by phone hacking. Parliament, shamed by expenses.
I was brought up to know that it is not polite to say ‘I told you so’. But I’m sorry: We did. In 2006 when Vince Cable warned that “bad debts were growing” and that bank lending levels were “recklessly irresponsible”. In 2002 when Tom McNally said: “The Government must guard the public interest as assiduously as Mr Murdoch guards his shareholder interests.” And in 1996 when Paddy said that Parliament had become “A rotten mess…a dishevelled, disfigured old corpse of what was once called the Mother of Parliaments.” Free to tell it like it really is because we are in nobody’s pocket.

Of all the claims Ed Miliband has made, the most risible is that his party is the enemy of vested interests. While we were campaigning for change in the banking system, they were on their prawn cocktail offensive in the City. While we’ve led the charge against the media barons, Labour has cowered before them for decades. The most shocking thing about the news that Tony Blair is godfather to one of Rupert Murdoch’s children is that nobody was really shocked at all.

And today Labour is in hock to the trade union barons: After their government stipend, 95% of Labour’s money comes from unions. Most of it from just four of them. Let me be clear: The values of trade unionism are as relevant as ever. Supporting workers. Fighting for fairness at work. But I don’t think the unions should be able to buy themselves a political party. Ed Miliband says he wants to loosen the ties between Labour and the union barons who helped him beat his brother. Let’s see him put his money where his mouth is. Let’s see if he’ll support radical reform of party funding. Every previous attempt has been blocked by the vested interests in the other two parties.

We are all stuck in a system that we know is wrong. We’ve all been damaged by it. But if we learned anything from the expenses scandal. It is surely that if the system’s broken. We should not wait for the next scandal. We should fix it and fix it fast.

So whether it is securing the economy, sorting the banks or cleaning up politics, we are making the big, difficult decisions. Not easy, but right. That’s what it means to be a party of national government again. Not just making arguments, making change.
In a coalition, we have two kinds of power: The power to hold our coalition partners back and the power to move the government forwards. So we can keep the government to a liberal path. Anchor the government in the centre ground.

We were absolutely right to stop the NHS bill in its tracks. To ensure change on our terms. No arbitrary deadlines. No backdoor privatization. No threat to the basic principles at the heart of our NHS.

We are right to stand up for civil liberties. No retreat to the illiberal populism of the Labour years. We are right to insist on keeping the tax system fair. Asking the most of the people who have the most. And we will always defend human rights, at home as well as abroad. The European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act are not, as some would have you believe, foreign impositions. These are British rights, drafted by British lawyers. Forged in the aftermath of the atrocities of the Second World War. Fought for by Winston Churchill. So let me say something really clear about the Human Rights Act. In fact I’ll do it in words of one syllable: It is here to stay.

So we will always hold the liberal line. But much more important is the positive power of government: Not just stopping bad things but doing good things.

Last year I walked through the door of No 10. But we all walked through a kind of door together. To being, once again, a party of national government. So we must move now beyond the reflexes of opposition to the responsibilities of government, and the opportunities of government, too. New social housing. Criminal justice reform. Fixed term parliaments. Keeping our Post Offices open. House of Lords reform. Better mental health care. Safer banks. Income tax down for ordinary workers. Capital gains tax up for the rich. Compulsory retirement scrapped. Pensions protected by a triple lock. ID cards: history. Child detention: ended.

Just look at what we’ve announced in the last five days. After decades of campaigning, and thanks to Lynne Featherstone: Equal marriage, straight or gay. More power for consumers over the energy companies. Calling time on rewards for failure in boardrooms. Investing in education for girls in developing countries. New powers to turn empty homes back into family homes. A five hundred million pound investment in growth. Liberal achievements from a liberal party of government.
And we have stood by our commitments to act on the environment. The pollsters tell us that climate change has dropped down people’s list of worries. That people have more immediate concerns. I understand that. So the politically convenient thing would have been to put this off to another day. Instead we have acted immediately. Not easy, but right. Ambitious carbon targets. Energy market reform. Councils generating renewable energy. A Green Deal to make bills lower and homes warmer. Carbon capture and storage. Green buses, trains and trams. The world’s first ever green investment bank. Green achievements. From a green party of government.
I’ve learned quite a bit in the last 500 days. About the responsibilities of government. About the resilience of our party. The integrity of our members. About our determination to do the right thing.

In government, every single day brings hard choices. You can quickly lose your way unless you are certain of your cause. Of why you are there in the first place. Every one of us in this hall has strong political convictions: Civil liberties. Internationalism. Human rights. Political reform. Responsible capitalism. Fighting climate change. But every one of us has a political passion too. The fire inside that drew us to politics in the first place. Let me tell you what I care most about. My passion is ensuring a fair start for every child. I have a simple, unquenchable belief: That every child can do good things, great things if only we give them the opportunities they deserve.

Equal opportunity. It sounds so simple doesn’t it? Everyone agrees with it. But then we allow prejudice, tradition and class to crush a million hopes and dreams, watch young children’s lives go off track even before they go off to school, sit idly by while talent goes to waste. I know I have had all the advantages – good school, great parents. I was lucky. But it shouldn’t be about luck.
On Saturday I met a group of young people working with a charity called UpRising, here in Birmingham. All from really difficult backgrounds. One young woman, Chantal, told me that she only started to thrive when she found someone who believed in her. I want every child to believe in themselves. In terms of opportunity, we are a nation divided:

Children from a poor background a year behind in language skills before the age of five; more young black men in prisons than at Russell Group universities. And within one city, two nations: In Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, more than half the children leaving state schools head to a good university. Just thirty minutes east - down the district line to Tower Hamlets - and just 4 percent do. Odds stacked against too many of our children. A deep injustice, when birth is destiny. That’s why I’ve been leading the charge for social mobility - for fairer chances, for real freedom.

People keep telling me that it’s too hard. That it’s futile to push for fairness into the headwinds of an economic slow down, or that it will just take too long. And that I should find some politically convenient ‘quick wins’ instead. I’ve also encountered fierce resistance from those who do so well out of the status quo. But for liberals the only struggles worth having are the uphill ones. Allowing schools to move poorer children up the queue for admissions. Making universities open their doors to everyone. Making firms work harder to get women on their boards. Breaking open internships. All controversial. All difficult. Not easy, but right.
So I’m not backing down. I’m not slowing down. Because this will not be a liberal nation until every citizen can thrive and prosper, until birth is no longer destiny, until every child is free to rise.
This summer, we saw the consequences of a society in which some people feel they have no stake at all. Nobody could fail to be horrified by what we saw during the riots. These weren’t organised campaigns for change. They were outbursts of nihilism and greed. I’ll never forget the woman I met in Tottenham, who told me the clothes she stood in were all the possessions she had left in the world after her home was torched.

But in every city where trouble broke out, most people did the right thing. So many more people went out to clean up the streets than went out to trash them. In Manchester I met a café owner who boarded up her broken windows and started serving tea and coffee straight away to the people who were helping clear up. And here in Birmingham the community stood together in the face of disorder and tragedy. Or emergency services, our police and our courts all rose to the challenge.

But we have to ensure that the offenders become ex-offenders for good. hree out of four had previous convictions. So we have to push ahead with the Government’s rehabilitation revolution: Punishment that sticks, that changes behaviour. An end to the corrosive cycle of crime. And I want the criminal to look their victims in the eye to see the consequences of their actions, and to put it right. That’s why there will be community payback projects in every city affected. Why we are investing in drug recovery wings in our prisons. Tackling gang culture. Tougher community penalties. Effective justice. Restorative justice. Liberal justice.
But let me say something else: The rioters are not the face of Britain’s young people. The vast majority of our young people are good, decent and doing the best they can. Don’t condemn all of them because of the actions of a few. You know what really struck me? How so many of those who did join in the riots seemed to have nothing to lose. It was about what they could get, here and now. Not what lies in front of them, tomorrow and in the years ahead. As if their own future had little value. Too many of these young people had simply fallen through the cracks. Not just this summer but many summers ago, when they lost touch with their own future. So often the people who have gone off the rails are the ones who were struggling years earlier, not least in making that critical leap from primary to secondary school. So today I am launching a new scheme to help the children who need it most. In the summer before they start secondary school. A two-week summer school helping them to catch up in Maths and English, and getting them ready for the challenges ahead. We know this is a time when too many children lose their way, so this is a £50m investment to help them along the right path.

And that is why we have found the money, even now, to invest in education. Protecting the schools budget. A two and a half billion pound Pupil Premium by the end of the parliament. More investment in early years education: 15 hours for all three and four year-olds. New provision for the poorest two-year-olds. All steps towards a society where nobody is ‘enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity’. Towards a liberal society. These are investments that will take years or even decades to pay off. By the time the two year-olds we help next year come to vote, I’ll be 60. So why are we doing it, when it costs so much and takes so long? Because investing early makes such a huge difference, especially for the poorest children: Not easy, but right.
So hold your heads up and look our critics squarely in the eye.

This country would be in deep trouble today if we had not gone into Government last year. And Britain will be a fairer nation tomorrow because we are in Government today. Never apologise for the difficult things we are having to do. We are serving a great country at a time of great need. There are no shortcuts, but we won’t flinch. Our values are strong. Our instincts are good: Reason not prejudice. Compassion not greed. Hope not fear.
After the summer riots, message boards sprang up. They became known as ‘peace walls’.

And on the peace wall in Peckham there was a note that simply read: Our home. Our children. Our future. Six words that say more than six hundred speeches. Our home. Our children. Our future.
Britain is our home. We will make it safe and strong. These are our children. We will tear down every barrier they face. And this is our future. We start building it today."

We'll reserve our views until all 3 have had their say, but in the meantime by all means tell us what you think?

[jman]

Jman has his say....


Nick Clegg yesterday devoted the key part of his conference speech to stating that his passion was children and seeing they had the right start in life. Here is the full report from Justrights showing what an utter disaster for children the legal aid cuts will be. Is he going to let the Lib Dems vote for a bill that will do this? He also professed to support the Human Rights Act will he and his party take away people's means of enforcing those rights?





Link to full report below



www.lawcentres.org.uk/uploads/NotSeen_NotHeard.pdf

[nickd]

Ed Miliband






Big on vision; but short on delivery?




Ed Miliband's conference speech

Thank you Conference. It's great to be in Liverpool. Labour Liverpool.

A generation ago a Labour leader came to Conference to condemn the behaviour of a Labour Council in Liverpool. Today I come to Liverpool, proud to hold our Conference in this great city. Proud of the work our Labour council is doing. Conference, it's been a busy year for me.

There's one person I want to thank more than any other. For her love, her support, for her encouragement. My wife Justine.

Ask me the three most rewarding things I've done this year. Being at the birth of our second son Sam. Then getting married. It is 2011 after all. And starting to tell Daniel, my older son, the stories my Dad used to tell me. My kids, Daniel and Sam.

A new generation of Miliband brothers.

I know what you're thinking. But just to reassure you. We're really hoping they become doctors too.

And of course one other big event happened in my life, one that the media was really interested in: My nose job. July 27th. They called it Ed Nose Day. In case you wondered listening to me, it was a great success. I had a deviated septum and it needed repositioning.

Typical Labour leader. He gets elected and everything moves to the centre.

A year ago I was elected your leader. And I want to thank one colleague in particular for her support over that time. For her help, her advice, for her friendship, and her commitment to equality and social justice. Harriet Harman, our fantastic deputy leader.

Conference, let's get down to business.

This is a dangerous time for Britain, and for Britain's economy. The Government's austerity plan is failing. You can sense the fear that people have as we watch the economic crisis that stalked our country in 2008 threatening to return. Stock markets round the world falling.The United States in difficulty.The Eurozone struggling. And people in Britain losing their jobs.

Now is not the time for the same old answers. From us, on the issues that lost us your trust. From this Government, on the growth crisis we face.

You need to know that there is an alternative. You need to know that it is credible.So people need to know where I stand.

The Labour Party lost trust on the economy. And under my leadership, we will regain that trust. I am determined to prove to you that the next Labour Government will only spend what it can afford.

That we will live within our means. That we will manage your money properly. As someone who believes that government can make a difference, I have a special responsibility to show you that every pound that is spent, is spent wisely.

The next Labour Government will still face tough decisions. We won't be able to reverse many of the cuts this Government is making. And let me tell you, if this Government fails to deal with the deficit in this Parliament, we are determined to do so.It's why we will set new fiscal rules to bind government to a disciplined approach.

And it's right, as a down payment, to tell you that we would use every penny of the sale of bank shares to pay down the debt. But I have to tell you frankly.

I have a fundamental disagreement with the Government.

They believe Britain can address our problems of debt without addressing our problems of growth. They are wrong. Think of how you pay off the credit card bill. You need to make savings in the household budget. But if you lose your job and the money stops coming in, you can't pay off the bill.

People in Britain are losing their jobs. They aren't spending. Government is cutting back. And the recovery has stalled. Of course, the world economy is suffering. But our Government is making it worse. Because the current plan to raise taxes and cut spending more dramatically than any other country is not working.

A year ago, lots of people thought the Government was taking the right course. The Governor of the Bank of England. The International Monetary Fund. But one person in particular stood outside the consensus.

Labour's Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls.

He was right. But he is not interested in being proved right. And nor am I. I am interested in the Government doing the right thing by the British people.

So there is a big choice facing the country. Whether to stick on the current plan or to change course? There is an alternative: For Britain and other countries to act together to get our economies moving.

Like a VAT cut now to put more money in people's pockets. And action to put our young people back to work.

I say to David Cameron. Put the politics aside.Look at the facts. Recognise what is staring you in the face. And understand that protecting our economy matters more than protecting your failed plan.

So I'm going to tell it straight. That's the lesson I have learnt about this job and myself over the last twelve months.

To be true to myself. My instincts. My values. To take risks in the pursuit of that. And to stand up for what is right..

The moment it came home to me most was when I heard the terrible news that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked. Someone had hacked into the voicemails of a missing teenager. Deleted them from her phone. Given her parents false hope. As Justine said to me that morning, it was sick that someone could do that. That's why I had to speak out. I knew when I said what I did that I was breaking rule number one of British politics.

Don't mess with Rupert Murdoch.

I did it because it was right. That's the lesson I have learned most clearly in the last year. The lesson that you've got to be willing to break the consensus, not succumb to it. You know, I'm not Tony Blair. I'm not Gordon Brown either. Great men, who in their different ways, achieved great things.

I'm my own man. And I'm going to do things my own way. That is what it means to lead. And I know this. Nobody ever changed things on the basis of consensus. Or wanting to be liked. Or not taking risks.Or keeping your head down. It's a lesson for me and it's a lesson for my party too.

Don't believe this stuff about governments losing elections, rather than oppositions winning them. It sounds to me like a consolation prize for opposition leaders that have lost. I'm not interested in consolation prizes. I'll tell you what I'm interested in.

Winning back the trust of the British people. Winning the next general election. My message to the public is this: We know waiting for the Tories to fail won't win us back your trust.

And we won't deserve your trust if that's what we do. Paying homage to past leaders won't win us back your trust. And we won't deserve it if that's what we do. Asking to carry on where we left off in government won't win us back your trust. And we won't deserve it if that's what we do.

My top demand of my Shadow Cabinet, my party, my team, is this: Ambition.

Ambition to change our country. It's why we were founded. It's in our souls. It's the only point in doing the jobs we do. And it's the reason I stood to be the leader of this Party.

And it is urgent, at this moment, in Britain 2011. In every generation, there comes a moment when we need to change the way we do things. This is one of those moments. And I believe from our conversations over the past year that you, the British people, know it. You've seen a series of crises hitting our country over the last few years.

This summer's riots. Not the first time we've seen decent people with the right values losing out to those with the wrong ones. The banking crisis, MPs' expenses. Journalists hacking phones. From them all a something for nothing culture. Take what you can. Fill your boots. Who cares as long as you can get away it.

And these are just the noisy scandals which grab the front pages. But you know there's a quiet crisis which doesn't get the headlines. It's about the people who don't make a fuss, who don't hack phones, loot shops, fiddle their expenses, or earn telephone number salaries at the banks. It's the grafters, the hard-working majority who do the right thing. It's a crisis which is happening in your town, your street and maybe even in your home. It is a crisis of the promises made over the last thirty years. The promise that if you're in work, you will do better each year.

The promise that if you work hard at school the doors of opportunity will open up to you. The promise that if you teach your kids the difference between right and wrong and bring them up properly, they will get a good job, and a decent home. These crises point to something deep in our country. The failure of a system.A way of doing things. An old set of rules.

An economy and a society too often rewarding not the right people with the right values, but the wrong people with the wrong values.

So the task of leadership in this generation is no ordinary task. It is to chart a new course. And strike a new bargain in our country. That's what I want to talk to you about today.

Let's be clear about one thing. The problem isn't the people of Britain. I saw it when I met our troops in Afghanistan.

Brave men and women. Called to serve our country. At this moment, as we meet in the comfort of this hall, hundreds, thousands of our troops are risking their lives. In harm's way, so far from home. We should think of them today and every day. Let's all thank them and acknowledge the heroism they show on behalf of our country.

And as always in our history, we see the true British character in moments of crisis. We saw it during the riots. It was a terrible moment for Britain.

People looting shops, burning cars. It even happened right by my old school. But for every person that looted, there were hundreds, thousands who said this will not stand and came out to help with the clean up. I saw it in Manchester, people of all generations, who came out the next morning to get the city back on its feet. Those young people with the brooms. Those young people who join us at Conference today. And let us celebrate what they did.

Let us celebrate too those brave police officers who worked day and night to bring order to our streets. They put themselves in harm's way and we should thank them for it. Citizens and public servants alike.

Theirs are the true values of Britain.

They are the true face of Britain.

And when we talk about the places where the riots happened, let's remember that the vast majority of people who live there are decent, law-abiding, community-spirited. We must punish those who do wrong.

But I'm not with the Prime Minister. I will never write off whole parts of our country by calling them sick. We are not a country of bad people but great people. Great people in a great country.

Ready to celebrate the Olympics next year. Olympic Britain 2012, ready to light up the world. But with such great people, how have we ended up with the problems we face?

It's because of the way we have chosen to run our country. Not just for a year or so but for decades. Now there are hard lessons here for my party which some won't like. Some of what happened in the 1980s was right. It was right to let people buy their council houses. It was right to cut tax rates of 60, 70, 80 percent.

And it was right to change the rules on the closed shop, on strikes before ballots. These changes were right, and we were wrong to oppose it at the time. But while some of it was right, too much of what happened was based on the wrong values.

That's where New Labour came in.

The rebuilt schools, new hospitals, more police. The minimum wage, tax credits, the new deal. Half a million children lifted out of poverty. Britain with Labour: the only country in Europe where poverty was not going up, but was going down.My party is proud of that record.

And so am I.

But good times did not mean we had a good economic system. We changed the fabric of our country but we did not do enough to change the values of our economy. You believe rewards should be for hard work. But you've been told we have to tolerate the wealthiest taking what they can.

And what's happened?

Your living standards have been squeezed by runaway rewards at the top. You believe we owe duties to each other. But in our economy you've been told that duties to each other come second.And so while many companies do the right thing and train their workforce, others do not.

And what's happened?

You've seen your sons and daughters not getting an apprenticeship, stuck in a job where they can't progress. And we have seen immigration policy which didn't work for the people whose jobs, living standards and communities were affected. You believe in the values of the long-term. But in our economy, you've been told the fast buck is ok.

And what's happened?

We've ended up with a financial crisis and you've ended up footing the bill. You believe in a society where everybody is responsible for their actions. But you've been told that if companies are big enough or powerful enough they can get away with anything.

And what's happened?

Big vested interests like the energy companies have gone unchallenged, while you're being ripped off. So you have been told for too long that the only way our economy can succeed is if we reward not your values, but a totally different set of values. Trickle-down economics. The triumph of finance over industry. The victory of vested interests over the public interest.

And who's been rewarded in this economy?

Take Fred Goodwin, who ran the Royal Bank of Scotland. He was at the heart of the banking crisis. Compare him to Sir John Rose, former Chief Executive of Rolls Royce, a great British business leader. Creating wealth and keeping jobs in this country. He is the true face of British business.

The vast majority of our businesses that have the right values and do the right thing. Rooted in their communities. Committed to their workforce.And creating real, lasting value. But at the time of the financial crisis, Fred Goodwin was paid over three times more than Sir John Rose.

I tell you something, Fred Goodwin shouldn't have got that salary.

And I tell you something else: We shouldn't have given Sir Fred Goodwin that knighthood either. You know what your values are. You believe in looking out for each other. You believe we are stronger together. Weaker on our own.

But we have allowed values which say take what you can, I'm in it for myself, to create a Britain that is too unequal. The people at the top taking unjustified rewards isn't just bad for our economy. It sends a message throughout our society about what values are ok. And inequality reinforces privilege and opportunity for the few.

You know what your values are. You believe whether you get on shouldn't depend on where you come from but what you have it within you to become. Those are Britain's values. Reward linked to effort. Something for something. But as the rungs of the ladder grow further and further apart, the chance of climbing up, becomes harder.

Think of some of the kids at school today in my constituency, in Doncaster. Or in your town. Ask yourself, what are their chances, however bright, of getting into one of the top universities, competing against people with all the chances in life? Of having the network of connections that will set them up for their career?

21st century Britain: still a country for the insiders.

What's my story? My parents fled the Nazis. And came to Britain. They embraced its values. Outsiders. Who built a life for us. So this is who I am. The heritage of the outsider. The vantage point of the insider. The guy who is determined to break the closed circles of Britain.

And as young people confront the choices they have in life, they see routes to success today based on a wrong set of values. The something for nothing of celebrity culture. The take what you can of the gangs. And in parts of some of our communities, a life on benefits.

You know what your values are.

But they are not the values being rewarded in our benefits system. We must never excuse people who cheat the welfare system. The reason I talk about this is not because I don't believe in a welfare state but because I do. We can never protect and renew it if people believe it's just not fair. If it's too easy not to work. And there are people taking something for nothing. And if at the same time people who have paid into the system all their lives find the safety net full of holes.

No wonder people are angry.

It's my job, my Party's mission To say: no more. It's all got to change. We need a new bargain. Based on Britain's values.Britain's values in our economy, in our society, and in the way our country is run.

Let's confront head on the big challenge we face of building a new bargain in our economy. Built on values of hard work, something for something, the long-term. We need a new era of wealth creation in this country. But it will not happen with the old set of rules. And we can't spend our way to a new economy.

We are competing not just with Germany and Japan, but with China, India and Brazil. Don't believe those who would tell you that the kind of economy we have now will help us to compete in that world. We can't pay our way unless as a country we invent things, make things, and sell real services and products.

Britain's future will be built not on credit default swaps but on creative industries. Not low wages and high finance, but low carbon and high tech. Not financial engineering, but real engineering. Of course, the banks and financial services are important to Britain.

They employ people right across the country. They will still be important to Britain in the future. But they must change so that they are part of the solution to our economic future, not part of the problem. You've been told all growth is the same, all ways of doing business are the same.

But it's not.

You've been told that the choice in politics is whether parties are pro-business or anti-business. But all parties must be pro-business today.

If it ever was, that's not the real choice any more.Let me tell you what the 21st century choice is: Are you on the side of the wealth creators or the asset strippers? The producers or the predators? Producers train, invest, invent, sell.

Things Britain does brilliantly.

Predators are just interested in the fast buck, taking what they can out of the business. This isn't about one industry that's good and another that isn't. Or one firm always destined to be a predator and another to be a producer. It's about different ways of doing business, ways that the rules of our economy can favour or discourage.

Look at what a private equity firm did to the Southern Cross care homes. Stripping assets for a quick buck and treating tens of thousands of elderly people like commodities to be bought and sold.

They may not have sold their own grandmothers for a fast buck. But they certainly sold yours. They aren't the values of British business. It must change. It must never happen again in the new economy we build. We must learn the lesson that growth is built on sand if it comes from our predators and not our producers.

For years as a country we have been neutral in that battle. They've been taxed the same. Regulated the same. Treated the same.

Celebrated the same.

They won't be by me.

We need the most competitive tax and regulatory environment we can for British business.

But when I am Prime Minister, how we tax, what government buys, how we regulate, what we celebrate will be in the service of Britain's producers.

And don't let anyone tell you that this is the anti-business choice.

It's the pro-business choice.

Pro-business on the side of the small businesses who can't get a loan.

Pro-business on the side of high value manufacturing that can't build its business because of the short-termist culture.

Pro-business on the side of the British company losing out to its competitors abroad when their government steps in and our government stands aside.

And that includes companies like Bombardier and BAe systems.

Being sold down the river by this Government.

Just like Sheffield Forgemasters before them.

Having Nick Clegg as the local MP didn't help much.

You know, the boundary review means his seat will be represented by a Tory after the next election.

No change there then.

Supporting the producers, that is what it means to be pro-business today.

That is why I say all major government contracts will go to firms who commit to training the next generation with decent apprenticeships.

And none will go to those who don't.

And it is also why I say, the new bargain in our economy must be built on co-operation not conflict in the workplace.

Raising productivity, working together, helping firms to compete.

That is the most important future for the trade unions in this country.

And we must challenge irresponsible, predatory practices wherever we find them.

We need investment in energy here in Britain.

But our energy companies have defied the laws of gravity for too long.

Prices go up but they never seem to come down.

I believe our environment and climate change is a crucial issue for our future.

An essential part of the new bargain.

Responsibility, commitment for the long term:

That's what my kids will want from us on the environment when they grow up and ask whether we were the first generation to get it or the last generation not to.

So over time there is going to be upward pressure on energy prices.

But that makes it all the more important we get the best possible deal for customers.

So let's break the dominance of the big energy companies.

Let's call a rigged market what it is.

And get a fairer deal for the people of Britain.

But as we challenge the predators let's celebrate Britain's producers.

Wherever we find them.

If people make money and profit through hard work, hard graft, something for something, let's praise them.

And let me tell you what the problem is with these Tories.

They don't understand who the real wealth creators of this country are.

Or the values our economy needs for them to succeed.

They talk as if the CEOs and the executives are the only people who create wealth.

Of course great business leaders make a huge difference to our country, and I applaud them.

But the small businesses that are the lifeblood of our economy are also the wealth creators.

The scientists and innovators are also our wealth creators.

And the young apprentices are also the wealth creators.

The wealth of our nation is built by the hands not just of the elite few but every man and woman who goes out and does a day's work.

The Tories aren't building a new bargain that supports the right people with the right values.

Young people, doing the right thing, wanting to go to higher education are going to find that their hard work and ambition will be punished with tens of thousands of pounds of debt.

And yet at the same time, George Osborne plans cuts in corporation tax for the banks.

It's the wrong choice.

Now some of you would like no fees at all.

I understand that.

But it wouldn't be responsible to make promises I can't keep.

That's Nick Clegg's job.

Let me tell you what I would do.

If we were in government now, we'd be cutting the costs of going to university from a maximum of £9,000 to £6,000.

To the young people who want to get on and contribute to our country my message is simple.

I won't let you be priced out of your future.

Labour is on your side.

We can't afford to carry on with so many young people locked out of opportunity.

Three thousand of our brightest young people, at state schools, get the grades to go to our most competitive universities.

But they never go.

That can't be right.

It creates a sense that there is no something for something deal.

I went to a fantastic local school.

It was a tough area but it was a school that changed lives.

But the truth is that the problem in some of our schools is not just investment.

It's also about values.

Of bright children held back when aspirations are low.

Or when closed circles at the top of society shut them out.

In any one year more than a quarter of our schools don't even send five kids to the most competitive universities.

Is anyone seriously telling me that there aren't pupils at any of those schools who are good enough to go?

It's got to change.

And we will change it.

Here is my challenge to those schools and universities.

Raise your game.

To the schools not doing enough I say:

Lift your ambition, lift your sights.

To the universities not opening up I say:

Open your eyes, open your doors.

Say to the very brightest children at every school: if you get the grades, you'll get a place.

And it's not just in our schools that I want to change the values that get rewarded.

It's right across society.

The new bargain must demand responsibility from all.

We've got to put an end to the idea that those at the top can take whatever they can, regardless of what they give back.

It's why we must end the cosy cartels of the way top pay is set in our economy.

So every pay committee should have an employee on the board.

And the something for something deal requires that sacrifice as well as prosperity is fairly shared.

Have you noticed how uncomfortable David Cameron is when he has to talk about responsibility at the very top?

He found it easy to be tough on you.

VAT went up.

He called it a tough decision.

Tax credits were cut.

He said they couldn't be afforded.

Help paying for childcare was hit.

He said it was the only thing he could do.

When you have had to pay, it's always necessary, it's always permanent, it can never be reversed.

And yet at the same time they are straining at the leash to cut the 50p tax rate for people earning over £3,000 a week.

Only David Cameron could believe that you make ordinary families work harder by making them poorer and you make the rich work harder by making them richer.

It's wrong.

It's the wrong priority.

It's based on the wrong values.

How dare they say we're all in it together.

So we need a new bargain at the top of society, and in our benefits system too.

So it rewards the right people with the right values.

But it isn't delivering that.

And we've got to fix it.

If you think putting it right means just stripping away welfare then you are better off with Iain Duncan Smith and David Cameron.

But at the same time we have to face the truth.

Even after reforms of recent years, we still have a system where reward for work is not high enough.

Where benefits are too easy to come by for those who don't deserve them and too low for those who do.

So if what you want is a welfare system that works for working people then I'm prepared to take the tough decisions to make that a reality.

Take social housing.

When we have a housing shortage, choices have to be made.

Do we treat the person who contributes to their community the same as the person who doesn't?

My answer is no.

Our first duty should be to help the person who shows responsibility.

And I say every council should recognise the contribution that people are making.

David Cameron likes to talk tough on welfare, but do you know who the big losers are from his changes?

Time and again it's those who work hard, who try to get on.

It's the cancer patients who have worked all their lives but now lose their support.

It's the couple who have put money aside and saved, but now lose their tax credits.

And it is the single mum working as a dinner lady who loses help with her childcare.

It's wrong.

And we have got to change it.

And while those who do the right thing are hit hard, the demands on those who don't work aren't tough enough.

Gone is the something for something requirement that every young person out of work for six months will be required to work.

This Government won't make the commitment to help our young people back to work.

It's wrong and we would change it.

Decency, fairness, helping those who do the right thing.

I believe in a benefits system with values.

And I believe in the value of work.

Labour.

Think about that word.

The party of work.

Now under my leadership, we will be the party which makes welfare work too.

And it's not just in our benefits system that I want to change the way government works.

It's in our public services as well.

Millions of public servants deliver a fantastic service every day of every week.

But we all know that sometimes powerful organisations can become unaccountable.

Work not in the interests of those who need them but in their own interests.

That's what vested interests are.

My task, our responsibility, is to make government work better for people.

The patient frustrated when they can't be seen by the person they want.

The victim of crime who just wants their case properly investigated.

You know what it's like.

You stand in the queue.

You hang on the phone.

You fill in the form.

And then all you get?

Computer says no.

We need to change that.

To give power to the public.

Like the power to the elderly couple to choose whether they are cared for in a care home or in their own home.

Or the parents I know struggling with their council on their child's special needs who want to know who else is facing the same challenges.

So I will take on the vested interests wherever they are because that is how we defend the public interest.

And there is no greater public interest than our National Health Service.

Cherished by all of us.

Founded by Labour.

Saved by Labour.

Today defended by Labour once again.

Why does Britain care so much for the NHS?

Because, more than any other institution in our country, the values of the NHS are our values.

It doesn't matter who you are.

Or what you earn.

The NHS offers the highest quality care when we need it.

I saw it this year with the birth of our son, Sam.

Like millions of other families, mine had the best of care from doctors, nurses.

And nobody asked me for my credit card at the door.

And when I look at everything this Tory Government is doing, it is the NHS that shocks me most.

Why?

Because David Cameron told us he was different.

You remember.

The posters.

The soundbites.

David Cameron knew the British people did not trust the Tories with our NHS.

So he told us he wasn't the usual type of Tory.

And he asked for your trust.

And then he got into Downing Street.

And within a year - within a year - he'd gone back on every word he'd said.

No more top-down reorganisations?

He betrayed your trust.

No more hospital closures?

He betrayed your trust.

No more long waits?

He betrayed your trust.

And the biggest betrayal of all?

The values of the NHS.

Britain's values.

The values he promised to protect.

Betrayed.

Hospitals to be fined millions of pounds if they break the rules of David Cameron's free-market healthcare system.

The old values that have failed our economy now being imported to our most prized institution: the NHS.

Let me tell David Cameron this.

It's the oldest truth in politics.

He knows it and now the public know it.

You can't trust the Tories with the NHS.

And let me tell the British people:

If you want someone who will rip up the old rules so that the country works for you, don't expect it from this Prime Minister.

On the 50p tax rate, on the banks, on the closed circles of Britain, on welfare, on the NHS, he's not about a new set of rules.

He's the last gasp of the old rules.

The wrong values for our country and the wrong values for our time.

You know Britain needs to change.

Every day of your life seems like a tough fight.

To make ends meet.

To do the best by your kids.

To look after your Mum or Dad.

And it will be a tough fight to change Britain.

But I'm up for the fight.

The fight for a new bargain.

A new bargain in our economy so reward is linked to effort.

A new bargain based on your values so we can pay our way in the world.

A new bargain to ensure responsibility from top to bottom.

And a new bargain to break open the closed circles, and break up vested interests, that hold our country back.

I aspire to be your Prime Minister not for more of the same.

But to write a new chapter in our country's history.

The promise of Britain lies in its people.

The tragedy of Britain is that it is not being met.

My mission.

Our mission.

To fulfil the promise of each so we fulfil the promise of Britain.

[nickd]

Next up, David Cameron







Still holding on to power?


This week, in Manchester, this party has shown the discipline, the unity, and the purpose that is the mark of a party of government. I’m proud of my team, I’m proud of our members, I’m proud to lead this party – but most of all, I’m proud of you.
People have very clear instructions for this government:

“Lead us out of this economic mess.”

“Do it in a way that’s fair and right.”

“And as you do it, make sure you build something worthwhile for us and our children.”

Clear instructions. Clear objectives. And from me: a clear understanding that in these difficult times, it is leadership we need. To get our economy moving. To get our society working, and in a year – the Olympics year – when the world will be watching us, to show everyone what Great Britain really means.
But first I want to say something to you in this hall. Thank you. Despite the predictions we won elections all over the country this May, so let’s hear it for those great campaigns you fought and the great results you achieved.

And thank you for something else. In the AV referendum, you did Britain a service and kicked that useless voting system off the political agenda for decades to come.

And next year let’s make sure we back Boris, beat Ken and keep London Conservative. You’re not just winners – you’re doers.
This summer, as before, Conservatives went to Rwanda to build classrooms, teach children and help grow businesses. Social action: that is the spirit of the modern Conservative Party.
This is a party - ours is a country – that never walks on by.

Earlier this year some people said to me: “Libya’s not our concern”, “don’t start what you can’t finish”, and even – “Arabs don’t do democracy.” But if we had stood aside this spring, people in Benghazi would have been massacred. And don’t let anyone say this wasn’t in our national interest. Remember what Qadhafi did. He’s the man who gave Semtex to the IRA, who was behind the shooting of a police officer in a London square, who was responsible for the bombing of a plane in the skies over Lockerbie. Let’s be proud of the part we played in giving the Libyan people the chance to take back their country.

In Afghanistan today, there are men and women fighting for Britain as bravely as any in our history. They come from across our country: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. They now have the equipment they need. And we’re on target to bring them home by the end of 2014.

Theirs has been a campaign of incredible courage and sacrifice, and I know everyone in this hall will want to send a message to everyone who serves and who have served. Those in uniform in our armed forces and in our police. And those not in uniform, keeping us safe from terrorism on our streets.
We’re proud of you. We salute you. Thank you.

But leadership in the world is about moral strength as much as military might. A few months ago I was in Nigeria, on a trade mission. While I was there, I visited a vaccination clinic. It was very hot, pretty basic and the lights kept going off.

But to the rows of women, cuddling their babies, this place was a godsend. One of the nurses told me that if it wasn’t for British aid, many of those beautiful babies would be dead. In four years’ time, this country will have helped vaccinate more of the world’s poorest children than there are people in the whole of England.
Of course, we’ll make sure your money goes to the people who need it most, and we’ll do it in a way that’s transparent and accountable. But I really believe, despite all our difficulties, that this is the right thing to do. That it’s a mark of our country, and our people, that we never turn our backs on the world’s poorest, and everyone in Britain can be incredibly proud of it.

Leadership in fighting poverty. Leadership in fighting tyranny. But when it came to that decision to help the Libyan people, there was something dispiriting about the debate here at home. It wasn’t that some people thought we shouldn’t do what we did – of course it’s everyone’s right to disagree.

It was that too many thought Britain actually couldn’t do something like that any more. And you hear that kind of pessimism about our economic future, our social problems, our political system. That our best days are behind us. That we’re on a path of certain decline.

Well I’m here to tell you that it isn’t true. Of course, if we sit around and hope for the best, the rest will leave us behind. If we fool ourselves that we can grow our economy, mend our society, give our children the future we want them to have. If we fool ourselves that we can do these things without effort, without correcting past mistakes, without confronting vested interests and failed ideas, then no, we’re not going to get anywhere.
But if we put in the effort, correct those mistakes, confront those vested interests and take on the failed ideas of the past, then I know we can turn this ship around.

Nobody wants false optimism. And I will never pretend there are short cuts to success. But success will come: with the right ideas, the right approach, the right leadership. Leadership from government: to set out the direction we must take, and the choices we must make. But leadership also from you. Because the things that will really deliver success are not politicians or government. It’s the people of Britain, and the spirit of Britain.
Some say that to succeed in this world, we need to become more like India, or China, or Brazil. I say: we need to become more like us. The real us. Hard-working, pioneering, independent, creative, adaptable, optimistic, can-do. That’s the spirit that has made this United Kingdom what it is: a small country that does great things; one of the most incredible success stories in the history of the world.

And it’s a spirit that’s alive and well today. I see it in Tania Sidney-Roberts, the head teacher I met in Norwich who started a free school from scratch, now four times over-subscribed. Her ambition? To set up another school and do it all over again. That’s leadership.

I see it in the group of GPs in Bexley who have taken more control of their budgets, and got their patients – some of the poorest in the country – free care on Harley Street. Their ambition? To cut waiting times, cut costs and improve care – all in one go. That’s leadership.

And we all saw it this summer. Dan Thompson watched the riots unfold on television. But he didn’t sit there and say ‘the council will clean it up.’ He got on the internet. He sent out a call. And with others, he started a social movement.

People picked up their brooms and reclaimed their streets. So the argument I want to make today is simple: leadership works. I know how tough things are. I don’t for one minute underestimate how worried people feel, whether about making ends meet, or the state of the world economy. But the truth is, right now we need to be energised, not paralysed by gloom and fear.

Half the world is booming – let’s go and sell to them. So many of our communities are thriving – let’s make the rest like them. There’s so much that’s great about our country. We don’t have to accept that success in this century automatically belongs to someone else. We just have to remember the origin of our achievements: the people of Britain, taking a lead. That’s why so much of my leadership is about unleashing your leadership. Giving everyone who wants to seize it the opportunity, the support and above all the freedom to get things done. Giving everyone who wants to believe it the confidence that working hard and taking responsibility will be rewarded not punished.

So let’s reject the pessimism. Let’s bring on the can-do optimism. Let’s summon the energy and the appetite to fight for a better future for our country, Great Britain.

Of course that starts with our economy. As we meet here in Manchester, the threat to the world economy – and to Britain - is as serious today as it was in 2008 when world recession loomed. The Eurozone is in crisis, the French and German economies have slowed to a standstill; even mighty America is being questioned about her debts.

It is an anxious time. Prices and bills keep going up – petrol, the weekly shop, electricity. On the news it’s job losses, cutbacks, closures. You think about tuition fees, and house prices, the cost of a deposit, and wonder how our children will cope. Of course, government can help – and this one is. We have cut petrol duty, kept the winter fuel allowance and kept cold weather payments. We froze council tax this year, and as George announced in that great speech on Monday, we’re going to freeze it again next year too.

But we need to tell the truth about the overall economic situation. People understand that when the economy goes into recession, times get tough. But normally, after a while, things pick up. Strong growth returns. People get back into work. This time, it’s not like that. And people want to know why the good times are so long coming.

The answer is straightforward, but uncomfortable. This was no normal recession; we’re in a debt crisis. It was caused by too much borrowing, by individuals, businesses, banks, and most of all, governments. When you’re in a debt crisis, some of the normal things that government can do, to deal with a normal recession, like borrowing to cut taxes or increase spending - these things won’t work because they lead to more debt, which would make the crisis worse.

Why? Because it risks higher interest rates, less confidence and the threat of even higher taxes in future. The only way out of a debt crisis is to deal with your debts. That’s why households are paying down their credit card and store card bills. It means banks getting their books in order. And it means governments – all over the world - cutting spending and living within their means.
This coalition government, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg and I – we’ve led the way here in Britain. Our plan is right. And our plan will work. I know you can’t see it or feel it yet. But think of it like this. The new economy we’re building: it’s like building a house. The most important part is the part you can’t see – the foundations that make it stable. Slowly, but surely, we’re laying the foundations for a better future. But this is the crucial point: it will only work if we stick with it.

And there’s something else we’ve got to stick to. Because we’re not in the Euro, we can lay these foundations ourselves: on our own terms; in our own way. So let me say this: as long as I’m Prime Minister, we will never join the Euro. And I won’t let us be sucked into endless bail-outs of countries that are in the Euro either. Yes, we’re leading members of the IMF and have our responsibilities there.

But when it comes to any Euro bail-out mechanism, my approach is simple: Labour got us into it and I’ve made sure we’re getting out of it.

Of course, our deficit reduction programme is just one big bail-out of the last Labour government. This past year we’ve been subjected to a sort of national apology tour by Labour. Sorry for sucking up to Qadhafi. For not regulating the banks properly. For crushing civil liberties. For failing to go green. For not building enough homes. For the infighting that made them the most dysfunctional government ever.

But you know what? Nothing – not a peep – on the thing they really need to say sorry for. Wasting billions and billions of your money. No apology for that. You know what the Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls claimed last week? That Labour didn’t spend more money than they had “available”. Hello? Ed – you spent £428 billion more than you had “available”. There is only one conclusion you can rationally draw. We must never let these Labour politicians anywhere near our economy again.

As before, it falls to us to clear up after the Labour Party. I have insisted that we do it in a way that is fair. You can’t cut a deficit the size of ours without everyone making a sacrifice. But those with the most money are bearing the biggest burden. We’ve imposed a permanent levy on the banks, getting them to pay more every year than Labour did in one year.

We’ve raised taxes on people who make their money overseas but live here. At the same time we’ve given real help to the poorest and most vulnerable. We’re taking over a million of the lowest-paid people out of tax altogether. And after the scandal of the 75p pension rise under Labour, we’re linking pensions to earnings so elderly people will be £10,000 better off in their retirement.

Yes, this is a one-nation deficit reduction plan – from a one-nation party. And here’s something else that we – yes we – have done. The NHS is the most precious institution in our country – to my family, to your family. At the last election, it was Labour policy to cut the NHS. It was Liberal Democrat policy to cut the NHS.
It was our policy – Conservative policy – to protect the NHS and spend more on it this year, next year and the year after that because we are the party of the NHS, and as long as I’m here we always will be.

But real fairness isn’t just about what the state spends. It’s about the link between what you put in and what you get out. As we debate what people get from the state, let’s remember how we generate taxes. So to the unions planning to strike over public sector pensions I say this. You have every right to protest. But our population is ageing. Our public sector pensions system is unaffordable. The only way to give public sector workers a decent, sustainable pensions system, and do right by the taxpayer, is to ask public servants to work a little longer and contribute a little more. That is fair. What is not fair, what is not right, is going on strikes that will hurt the very people who help pay for your pensions.

Dealing with our debts is line one, clause one of our plan for growth. But it is just the start. We need jobs – and we won’t get jobs by growing government, we need to grow our businesses. So here’s our growth plan: doing everything we can to help businesses start, grow, thrive, succeed. Where that means backing off, cutting regulation – back off, cut regulation. Where that means intervention, investment – intervene, invest. Whatever it takes to help our businesses take on the world – we’ll do it.

The global economy has transformed in recent years. It used to take companies decades to become global giants: now it can take a couple of years. When you step off the plane in Delhi or Shanghai or Lagos, you can feel the energy, the hunger, the drive to succeed. We need that here.

Frankly, there’s too much ‘can’t do’ sogginess around. We need to be a sharp, focused, can-do country. But as we go for growth, the last thing I want is to pump the old economy back up, with a banking sector out of control, manufacturing squeezed, and prosperity confined to a few parts of the country and a select few industries. Our plan is to build something new and to build something better. We can do it.

Look what’s happening in East London. Europe’s financial capital is now matched by Europe’s technology capital in Tech City. Facebook, Intel, Google, Cisco – even Silicon Valley Bank - seeing our potential and investing here. Look what’s happening across our country. The wings of the world’s biggest jumbo jet - built in Wales.

The world’s most famous digger – the JCB – made in Staffordshire.
Do you watch Formula One? Well whether it’s the German Michael Schumacher, the Australian Mark Webber or the Brazilian Reubens Barrichello, they all have one thing in common – they drive cars built right here in Britain.

This is the new economy we’re building: leading in advanced manufacturing, technology, life sciences, green engineering. Inventing, creating, exporting.

Of course, it’s easy to talk about these things: harder to deliver it. For a start, you won’t deliver it just by dividing industries into saints and sinners. That’s not just an insult to the financial and insurance companies, accountancy firms and professional services that make us billions of pounds and create millions of jobs - it’s much too simplistic.

As I’ve always argued, we need businesses to be more socially responsible. But to get proper growth, to rebalance our economy, we’ve got to put some important new pieces into place. Taking action now to get credit flowing to the small businesses that are the engine of the economy. And ring-fencing the banks so they fulfil their role of lending safely to the real economy. Setting up Technology and Innovation Centres where scientists and academics can work with entrepreneurs to turn brilliant inventions into successful products. Reforming taxation to encourage enterprise and investment in high growth firms. And sometimes that means taking controversial decisions; challenging vested interests.

When firms need to adapt quickly to win orders and contracts, we can’t go on with rigid, outdated employment regulations. The critics may say: what about workers’ rights? But the most important worker’s right of all is having a job in the first place.
When in modern business you’re either quick or you’re dead, it’s hopeless that our transport infrastructure lags so far behind Europe’s. That’s why we need to build high speed rail and why we’ll get the best super-fast broadband network in Europe too. When a balanced economy needs workers with skills, we need to end the old snobbery about vocational education and training. We’ve provided funding for 250,000 extra apprenticeships – but not enough big companies are delivering.

So here’s a direct appeal: If you want skilled employees, we’ll provide the funding, we’ll cut the red tape. But you’ve got to show more leadership and give us the apprenticeships we need.
Unlocking growth and rebalancing our economy also requires change in Brussels. The EU is the biggest single market in the world – but it’s not working properly. Almost every day, I see pointless new regulation coming our way. A couple of weeks ago I was up in the flat, going through some work before the start of the day and I saw this EU directive. Do you know what it was about? Whether people with diabetes should be allowed to drive. What’s that got to do with the single market? Do you suppose anyone in China is thinking: I know how we’ll grow our economy – let’s get those diabetics off our roads. Europe has to wake up – and the EU growth plan we’ve published, backed by eight countries, which I want us to push at every meeting, every council, every summit, is the alarm call that Brussels needs.
There’s one more thing. Our businesses need the space to grow – literally. That’s one of the reasons we’re reforming our planning system. It’s hard to blame local people for opposing developments when they get none of the benefits. We’re changing that. If a new manufacturing plant is built in your area – your community keeps the business rates. If new homes get built – you keep the council tax. This is a localist plan from a localist party.

Now I know people are worried about what this means for conservation. Let me tell you: I love our countryside and there’s nothing I would do to put it at risk. But let’s get the balance right. The proportion of land in England that is currently built up is 9 per cent. Yes, 9 per cent. There are businesses out there desperate to expand, to hire thousands of people – but they’re stuck in the mud of our planning system. Of course we’re open to constructive ideas about how to get this right.

But to those who just oppose everything we’re doing, my message is this: Take your arguments down to the job centre. We’ve got to get Britain back to work.

The new economy we’re building must work for everyone. You know the real tragedy of New Labour’s economy? Not just that it was unsustainable, unbalanced, overwhelmed with debt. But that it left so many behind.

Labour talked opportunity but ripped the ladders of opportunity away. We had an education system that left hundreds of thousands unprepared for work. A welfare system that trapped millions in dependency. An immigration system that brought in migrant workers to do the jobs that those on welfare were being paid not to do.

We had a housing system that failed to meet demand, so prices shot up and fuelled an unsustainable boom. And we had a government that creamed the taxes off the boom to splurge back into benefits – redoubling the failure all over again. Labour: who tell us they care so much about fairness, about justice, who say they want to hit the rich and help the poor - it was Labour gave us the casino economy and the welfare society.

So who’s going to lift the poorest up? Who’s going to get our young people back to work? Who’s going to create a more equal society? No, not you, the self-righteous Labour Party. It will be us, the Conservatives who finally build an economy that works for everyone and gives hope to everyone in our country.
That starts with a good education – for everyone. It sounds so simple: proper teaching, good discipline, rigorous exams. But it’s hard. It’s hard because our education system has been infected by an ideology that instead of insisting on every child’s success has too often made excuses for failure. They said: “poor kids can’t learn.” “Black boys can’t do well.” “In this community we really mustn’t expect too much - don’t you understand?”

Oh yes, I do understand. Believe me I do understand and I am disgusted by the idea that we should aim for any less for a child from a poor background than a rich one. I have contempt for the notion that we should accept narrower horizons for a black child than a white one. Yes it’s the age-old irony of the liberal left: they practice oppression and call it equality.

So we are fighting back. And something massive is happening. There is now irrefutable proof that the right schools, with the right freedoms and the right leadership, can transform the education of the most deprived children. You heard yesterday from that inspirational student from Burlington Danes Academy in Hammersmith. Inner city school. Deprived area. Nearly half the pupils on free school meals.

But this year, three-quarters got five good GCSEs including English and maths. That’s way better than what the majority of the state schools in Sussex, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire got last year – some of the most affluent counties in the country.
Why? Because the head teacher, her staff, the parents – rose up and said: “We are as good as anyone. Our children can achieve anything.”

Leadership works. So we’re backing more head teachers to turn schools into Academies. And we want more parents, teachers, charities, businesses, entrepreneurs, to come in to our education system and set up Academies and Free Schools.

Change really is underway. For the first time in a long time, the numbers studying those core and vital subjects history, geography, languages are going up. Pupils’ exams will be marked on their punctuation and grammar. And teachers are going to be able to search pupils’ bags for anything banned in school – mobile phones, alcohol, weapons, anything. It’s a long, hard road back to rigour, but we’re well and truly on our way.

And here’s something else we’re going to do. In Britain today, we have schools that are intolerant of failure, where ninety percent of pupils get five good GCSEs. Yes: private schools. You’ve heard me talk about social responsibility so let me say this. I want to see private schools start Academies, and sponsor Academies in the state system. Wellington College does it, Dulwich does it – others can too. The apartheid between our private and state schools is one of the biggest wasted opportunities in our country today. So let it be this party that helps tear it down.

Rigour back in learning. Standards back in schools. Teachers back in control. Yes – the Conservatives are back in government.
An economy that works for everyone means sorting out welfare and immigration too. Welfare began as a life-line. For too many it’s become a way of life. Generation after generation in the cycle of dependency – and we are determined to break it.
Part of our answer is controlling immigration. So we’ve put a cap on the numbers of non-EU immigrants allowed to come into our country to work. We mustn’t lock out talent - I want the best and brightest entrepreneurs, scientists and students from around the world to get the red carpet treatment. But the bogus colleges, the fake marriages, the people arriving for a month and staying for years, the criminals who use the Human Rights Act to try and stay in the country – we are clamping down on all of them.

We’ve got to get some sense back into our labour market and get British people back into work. For years you’ve been conned by governments. To keep the unemployment figures down, they’ve parked as many people as possible on the sick. Two and a half million, to be exact. Not officially unemployed, but claiming welfare, no questions asked. Now we’re asking those questions. It turns out that of the 1.3 million people who have put in a claim for the new sickness benefit in recent years. One million are either able to work, or stopped their claim before their medical assessment had been completed.

Under Labour they got something for nothing. With us they’ll only get something, if they give something. If they are prepared to work, we’re going to help them – and I mean really help them. If you’ve been out of work and on benefits for five years, a quick session down the job centre and a new CV just isn’t going to cut it. You need to get your self-esteem and confidence back; you need training and skills; intensive personal support.
Previous governments were never willing to make a proper commitment to this, but we have – investing now, so we don’t pay later. We’re going to spend up to £14,000 on some people just to get them trained and back into work. Yes, I know that’s a lot of money – but it’s worth it. Let it be us, let it be this government that finally builds an economy where no one is left behind.
And for most people that includes a home of their own: not just any old home but a decent one: light and spacious, a place with a proper front door and room for the kids to play in. But the percentage of British people who own their home is going down. Unless they get help from their parents, do you know the average age of a first-time buyer in our country today? Thirty seven. You hear people say: “why can’t people just rent like in Europe?” or “there’s nothing we can do because we don’t have the money.”
I disagree. The failure of the housing market is bound up in the debt crisis. Because lenders won’t lend, builders won’t build and buyers can’t buy. We’re sorting this out, bringing back the Right to Buy and using the money to build new homes. Macmillan made us the party of the property-owning democracy. Margaret Thatcher gave people the Right to Buy. Now let us, in this generation, inspire a new Tory housing revolution.

While I’m on the subject of those great Conservative figures, let me say this. I’m incredibly fortunate to have such strong support from our previous leaders. Michael Howard. Iain Duncan Smith. William Hague. Sir John Major. And of course, Lady Thatcher. You know what? We don’t boo our leaders. We’re proud of our past and what those people did for our country.

A few months ago, we were shocked by the scenes on our streets in London and other parts of the country. But perhaps the most shocking thing is that people weren’t that surprised. There was no great call for a public enquiry to find out what had gone wrong. Instead the sound you could hear was the angry, insistent, overwhelming cry of a country shouting to its leaders: We know. We know why this happened. We know what’s gone wrong. We know that if the system keeps fudging the difference between right and wrong, we’ll never improve behaviour. We know that as long as the police go round with one hand tied behind their back, we’ll never make our streets truly safe. And more than anything we know that if parents don’t meet their responsibilities, kids will get out of control. Yes, people said: we know what’s gone wrong: and we want you to put it right.

One thing people want is speedy justice. After the riots those responsible were put straight in the courts and tough sentences were quickly handed out. And I’ve made it clear to the police, to the prosecution services, to the Ministry of Justice, to the Attorney-General, if we could do that then, let’s make sure we do it all the time. But the problems go deeper. That’s why my driving mission in politics is to build a Big Society, a stronger society.
It starts with families. I want to make this the most family-friendly government the country has ever seen. More childcare. More health visitors. More relationship support. More help with parenting. And for the 120,000 families that are most troubled – and causing the most trouble – a commitment to turn their lives around by the end of this Parliament.

Today I can announce this: a new focus on the 65,000 children in care. Do you know how many children there are in care under the age of one? 3,660. And how many children under the age of one were adopted in our country last year? Sixty. This may not seem like the biggest issue facing our country, but it is the biggest issue for these children. How can we have let this happen: we’ve got people flying all over the world to adopt babies, while the care system at home agonises about placing black children with white families.

With the right values and the right effort, let’s end this scandal and help these, the most vulnerable children of all. But for me, leadership on families also means speaking out on marriage. Marriage is not just a piece of paper. It pulls couples together through the ebb and flow of life. It gives children stability. And it says powerful things about what we should value. So yes, we will recognise marriage in the tax system.

But we’re also doing something else. I once stood before a Conservative conference and said it shouldn’t matter whether commitment was between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man. You applauded me for that. Five years on, we’re consulting on legalising gay marriage.
And to anyone who has reservations, I say: Yes, it’s about equality, but it’s also about something else: commitment. Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other. So I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative.
We value community spirit and social action too. We see it everyday in our own lives, it’s one of the great things about Britain, and do you know what? Over the last five years of the Labour government, the number of people volunteering went down. Last year, the decline was halted.

And now the proportion of people saying they feel they belong strongly to their neighbourhood is the highest for a decade. If you’re cynical, go to Wythenshawe, a few miles from here. It used to be ravaged by crime and drugs and graffiti. But local people opened a community hall and a gym. They got the kids off the streets. They cleaned up graffiti and kicked out the drug dealers. Of course, government can’t legislate for this. But we can support the leadership that makes it happen.

That’s why we’re giving neighbourhoods new powers to take over the running of parks, playgrounds and pubs. It’s why we’re making it easier for people to give their time and money to good causes. It’s why we want elected mayors in our great cities, and it’s why right now we’re drawing up plans to really open up public services and give more power to people.
But one of the biggest things holding people back is the shadow of health and safety. I was told recently about a school that wanted to buy a set of highlighter pens. But with the pens came a warning. Not so fast – make sure you comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. Including plenty of fresh air and hand and eye protection. Try highlighting in all that.

This isn’t how a great nation was built. Britannia didn’t rule the waves with arm-bands on. So the vetting and barring scheme – we’re scaling it back. CRB checks – we’re cutting them back. At long last common sense is coming back to our country.
Building stronger communities is why we’ve introduced National Citizen Service. You saw it for yourself at the start of this afternoon’s session. One of the people who took part this year, Owen Carter, wrote to me and said:

“[This] has changed my perspective of life - you can do anything if you work hard and have a supportive team around you. You can do anything’.

That’s the spirit I’m talking about. That’s why we’re tripling the scale of National Citizen Service. That’s how we’ll build our Big Society. That is leadership.

Next year, we welcome the world for the Olympics – and of course the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. These two events say a lot about Britain. Tradition. Modernity. All in one.

And today, we can choose to be a country that’s back on its feet and striding forward. Paying down our debt and earning a living. Getting people off welfare and into work. Breaking new ground in education, with excellence for everyone not a privileged few.
We can be a country where people look back on their life and say: I’ve worked hard, I’ve raised a family, I’m part of a community and all along it was worth my while. We’re too far away from that today but we can get there.

It’s not complicated, but not easy either - because nothing worthwhile is easily won. But you know, we’ve been told we were finished before.

They said when we lost an Empire that we couldn’t find a role. But we found a role, took on communism and helped bring down the Berlin Wall.

They called our economy the sick man of Europe. But we came back and turned this country into a beacon of enterprise.
No, Britain never had the biggest population, the largest land mass, the richest resources, but we had the spirit. Remember: it’s not the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Overcoming challenge, confounding the sceptics, reinventing ourselves, this is what we do. It’s called leadership.

Let’s turn this time of challenge into a time of opportunity. Not sitting around, watching things happen and wondering why. But standing up, making things happen and asking why not.
We have the people, we have the ideas, and now we have a government that’s freeing those people, backing those ideas.
So let’s see an optimistic future. Let’s show the world some fight. Let’s pull together, work together. And together lead Britain to better days.