David Cameron presents himself as leader of 'aspiration nation'

Prime minister insists country is on right track and denies Conservatives are party of the rich

David Cameron addresses the Conservative party conference in Birmingham Link to this video

David Cameron has offered himself as the leader of an "aspiration nation", admitting his plans to eradicate the deficit are taking longer than he hoped, but insisting the country is on the right track.

In a sometimes defensive speech to his party conference in Birmingham, he sought to fend off the image of his party as a defender of the rich, saying: "We are the party of the want to be better off," and insisting his goal was to spread, not defend, privilege.

He said he was not going to allow Britain, like some "sclerotic European countries", to slide in the face of the global challenge posed by countries such as China.

He said: "I know you are asking whether the plan is working and here is the truth: the damage was worse than we thought and it's taking longer than we hoped."

In a play on Ed Miliband's "one nation" speech, he dismissed Labour as the party of "one notion" – borrowing.

He blamed the slowing of the world economy, especially in the EU over the last two years, but told the country: "Here is the crucial thing you need to know. Yes, it's worse than we thought, yes, it's taking longer, but we are making progress.

"The country is on the rise and we are selling to the world again," he said, adding it was a time of reckoning, when the country would "either sink or swim, do or decline".

As evidence that the economy was on the mend, he cited the creation of 1m new jobs in the private sector, saying this was in net terms more than Labour managed in 10 years. In his only specific growth measure, he said Britain's planning laws would have to be scrapped so more housing could be built, vowing to scrap "the suffocating bureaucracy" that he said was holding economic growth back.

He said: "There are too many 'yes but no' people. The ones who say: 'Yes, our business needs to expand, but no, we cannot reform planning'."

He said: "If we are going to be a winner in this global race we've got to beat off this suffocating bureaucracy once and for all.

He also attacked the so-called "Nimbys", saying it had been "OK for his generation that had got on the housing ladder". But he pointed out that the average age that people buy their first home today without any help from their parents was 33.He insisted: "We are the party of home ownership. We cannot let this carry on. We have to accept we need to build more houses in Britain.

"There are people who work hard year after year but are still living at home. They sit in their childhood bedroom looking out of the window dreaming of a place of their own."

He also issued a strong defence of his plans to cut welfare, as well as his free school programme.

He insisted in British politics it was the Conservative party that was saying no one was a write-off, adding that his goal was not to hoard privilege but to spread it.

He defended his work experience scheme, attacking those who compared it to workhouses or said it was state-sponsored slavery. He replied: "What an appalling, snobbish attitude to the idea of work. We're not sending children up chimneys. We're giving them a chance. What's cruel is not asking something of people – it's when we ask nothing of them. Work is not slavery, it's poverty that is slavery, and again it is us, the modern, compassionate Conservative party, who are the real champions of fighting poverty in Britain today."

He also set out plans to end automatic access to housing benefit for people under 25, saying for some people there was a soft option of "don't get a job, sign on, don't ever need to produce a CV when you do sign on. Get housing benefit, get a flat and then don't ever get a job, or you will lose a load of housing benefit."

He also attacked the "leftwing establishment in education – the leftwing local authorities, the leaders of the teachers' unions, the Labour party theorists that stand in the way of aspirational parents by excusing low expectations and blaming social disadvantage".

He said: "It's that toxic culture of low expectations – that lack of ambition for every child – which has held this country back."

He said he wanted more free schools, academies, more rigour, and "more expected of every child".

Refusing to back away from his schooling at Eton, he added: "To all those people who say he wants children to have the kind of education he had at his posh school, I say: 'Yes, you are absolutely right.'"

He launched a number of attacks on Labour, but was silent on his coalition partners. He attacked Miliband by saying: "While the intellectuals of other parties sneer at people who want to get on in life, we here salute you. They call us the party of the better off. No, we are the party of the want to be better off, those who strive to make a better life for themselves and their families – and we should never be ashamed of saying so."

He promised that "those with the broadest shoulders would bear the greatest burden. With us the rich will pay a greater share of tax in every year of this parliament than in any one of the 13 years under Labour."

Previewing the attack he will mount at the next election, he said he did not think Labour had learned a single thing. "When they were in office, their answer was always borrow more money. Now they are out of office, it's borrow more money whatever the day, whatever the question, whatever the weather it is, borrow more money."

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Ditulis oleh: Unknown - Wednesday, October 10, 2012