10/10/2012 Today at Conference

Good evening and welcome back to Birmingham for one last round-up

from the Conservative Party Conference. "Let us build an

aspiration nation". So said David Cameron as he closed his party's

conference with a serious defence of the Government's agenda. He

described the Conservatives as the party of the strivers and his

mission to "unlock the promise in all our people" as the only way to

safeguard Britain's place in the world.

And in a strongly worded attack on the Opposition, he described Labour

as the party not of one nation, but of one notion - borrowing. We have

extended highlights of the speech and the reaction of party members

watching. Well, the Prime Minister's speech is over and they

are about to start taking down the stage set here. He got the usual

rousing reception you would expect him to get, but this was not a

speech full of jokes and talk of sun lit uplands. This was a serious

speech about the tough times the country is in and it was an

argument from the Prime Minister, his claim, that his brand of

aspirational Toryism is the best thing for the hard road ahead. Here

are some of the highlights. All of my adult life, whatever the

difficulties, the British people have at least been confident about

one thing - we thought we can pay our way. That we can earn our

living as a major industrial country and we will always remain

one. It has fallen to us to say that we cannot assume that any

longer. Unless we act, unless we take difficult, painful decisions.

Unless we show determination and imagination, Britain may not be in

the future what it has been in the past. Because the truth is this -

we are in a global race today and that means an hour of reckoning for

countries like ours, sink or swim. Do or decline. To take office, to

become the Government at such a moment is a duty and an honour and

we will rise to the challenge. Now today, I want to set out a serious

argument to this country about how we do that. About how we compete

and and thrive in this world and how we can make sure in this

century, like the ones before, Britain is on the rise. Nothing

matters more. Every battle we fight. Every plan we make. Every decision

we take is to achieve that end. Britain on the rise. Now though the

challenge before us is daunting, I have confidence in our country.

Why? Because Britain can deliver. We can do big things. We saw it

this summer, the jubilee, the Olympics, the Paralympics, the best

country in the world and let us say it with our Queen, the Finest head

of State on earth. I was recently trying to think of

my favourite moment of that extraordinary summer. Was it

telling approximately Francois Hollande, no we hadn't cheated a

the cycling, no, we just pedalled faster than the French! No for me.

It was seeing that young woman who swam her heart out for years, nine

training sessions a week, two hours at a time, my best moment was

putting that gold medal around the neck of Ellie Simmonds.

APPLAUSE And you know something, I'm so

grateful for what what those Paralympians did. When I used to

push my son, Ivan, around in his wheelchair, I used to think that

too many people saw the wheelchair and not the boy. I think today more

people would see the boy and not the wheelchair and that's because

of what happened in Britain this summer. We can deliver. We can do

big things. The Olympics, they reminded us how great it feels to

be successful. But we mustn't let that give us a warm glow or a false

sense of security. All over the world countries are on the rise.

Yes, we been hearing about inia and China for -- India and China for

years, but it is hard to believe what is happening in Brazil,

innieceia and Nigeria too. Meanwhile the old powers are on the

slide. Now what do the countries on the rise have in common? They are

lean, fit, they are obsessed with enter with enterprise. And what do

countries on the slide have in common? They are fat, overregulated,

spending money on unaffordable welfare systems. My job, our job,

is to make sure that in this 21st century, as in the centuries that

came before, our country, Britain, is on the rise. And here, here we

know how that is done. It is the collective result of individual

efficient and aspiration. The ideas you have. The businesses you start,

the hours you put in. Aspiration is the engine of progress. Countries

rise when they allow their people to rise. And in this world where

brains matter more. Where technologies shape our lives. Where

no one is owe add living, the most powerful resource we have is our

people. Not just the scientists, the entrepreneurs, and the

engineers, not just the teachers, the parents, the nurse, but all our

people, including the poorest, those who never had a chance, never

had a job, never had hope, that's why the mission for this Government

is to build an aspiration nation to unleash and unlock the promise in

all our people. And for us, for us Conservatives, this is not just an

economic mission, it is a moral one. It is not just about growth and GDP,

it is about what has always made our hearts beat faster. People

rising from the bottom to the top. Line one, rule one of being a

Conservative, it is not where you come from that counts, it is where

you are going. We have been led. APPLAUSE

We've been led by the daughter of a grocer, the son of a music hall

producer, by a Jew, by a woman when women were side lined, we don't

look at the label on the tin, we look at what's in it. Let me put

that another way. We don't preach about one nation, but practise

class war. We just get behind people who want to get on in life.

APPLAUSE That's right, the doers, the risk

takers, the young people who dream of their first pay cheque, their

first car, their first home. Those people are ready and willing to

work hard to get those things, while the other parties may sneer

at people who want to get on in life. They call us the party of the

better off, no, we are the party of the people who want to be better

off and we should never be ashamed of saying so. The Labour Labour

politicians who got us into this mess, they say they have a

different way out of it. They call it Plan B and it goes like this. We

should stop worrying about deficit reduction. Borrow more money and

spend it to boost the economy. It sounds so reasonable when you put

it like that. Let me tell you why it is not - right now, while we

have got a deficit, the people people we are borrowing money from

believe we will pay it back because we have set out a tough plan to cut

spending and to live within our means. That's why our interest

rates are amongst the lowest in the world even though the deficit left

to us by Labour was one of the highest in the world. In we watered

dune our plans and -- down our plans, the risk is the people we

borrowed money from would start to question our ability and our

resolve to pay off our debts. Some Some might refuse to lend us any

money at all. Others would only lend it to us at higher interest

rates. That would hurt the economy and it would hit people hard. If

you have a mortgage of �100,000, just a 1% increase in interest

rates would mean an extra �1,000 to pay each year. So Labour's plan to

borrow more is actually a massive gamble with our economy and our

future. It would squander all of the sacrifices we have already made.

And let me put it like this - we're here because we spent too much and

borrowed too much. How on earth can the answer be more spending and

more borrowing? APPLAUSE

I honestly think that Labour haven't learned a single thing.

When they were in office, their answer was always, "Borrow more

money." Now they are out of office. It is borrow more money. Whatever

the day, whatever the question, whatever the weather, it is borrow

more money. Borrow, borrow, borrow. Labour, the party of one notion,

borrowing! APPLAUSE

There are times I wonder whether they know anything about the real

economy at all. Did you hear last week what Ed Miliband said about

taxes? He described a tax cut as the Government writing people a

cheque. I hope you don't mind, I just want to explain it for him!

LAUGHTER , Ed this is how it works. When

people earn money, it is their money. Not the Government's money.

It is their money. APPLAUSE

Don't Interrupt, I don't want him to lose the thread!

LAUGHTER Then the Government takes some of

it away in tax. So if we cut taxes, we're not giving them money, we are

taking less of it away. OK? Got it? If we want our people to rise so

Britain can rise, we must tackle welfare. Here are two fax r two

facts for you. Fact one, we spend �80 billion a year on welfare for

working age people. Not pensions, just welfare for working age people

and that is one in eight of every �1 that the Government spends. Fact

two, more of our children live in households where nobody works than

almost any other nation in Europe. Let me put it simply - welfare

isn't working and this is a tragedy. Here is the choice that we give our

young people today - choice one, work hard. Go to college. Get a job.

Live at home. Save up for a flat. As I have just said, that can feel

like forever. Choice two, don't get a job. Sign on. Don't even need to

produce a CV when you sign on. Get housing benefit. Get a flat and

then don't get a job or you will lose a load of the housing benefit.

We We must be crazy. This is what we have done. Now you have to sign

a contract that says you do your bit and we will do ours. It

requires you to have a real CV and it makes clear you have to seek

work. You have to take work or you will lose your benefit.

APPLAUSE And we are going to look at ending

automatic access to housing benefit for people under 25 too. Let me put

it like this this - if hard-working young people have to live at home

when r home while they work and save, why should it be any

different for those who don't? When they wanted to open Faith schools,

the -- free schools, the left-wing establishment said no. It is that

toxic culture of low expectations, that lack of ambition for every

child that held our country back. I can tell you...

APPLAUSE And let me tell you a thing or two

about Michael Gove and I. We are not waiting for an outbreak of

sanity at the head quarters of the of the NUT. We are not waiting for

some great embrace of ambition in the higher reaches of Labour before

we act because our children cannot wait. When people say say, "Please

slow down your education reforms so adults can learn how to adjust to

them." I say no. I want more free schools, more academies, more

rigorous exams. More expected of every child in every school and to

those who say, "He wants children to have the kind of education he

had at his posh school." Do you know what I say? Yes, you are

absolutely right. I went to a great school. I want every child to have

that sort of education. APPLAUSE

I'm not here to defend privilege, I'm here to spread it.

APPLAUSE I don't have a hard luck story. My

dad, my dad was a stockbroker from Berkshire.

LAUGHTER But it is only when your dad is

gone that you realise not just how much you miss them, or how much you

really love them, but how much you really owe them. My dad influenced

me much more than I ever thought. He was born with no heels on his

feet. With legs that were about a foot shorter than they were many to

be, but he never complained even when he lost those legs later in

his life. Because disability in the 1930s was such a stigma, he was an

only child, probably a lonely child. But my dad was the eternal optimist.

To him the glass was always halfful, usually with something fairly

alcoholic in it! And when I was a boy, I remember once going for a

long walk with him in the village where we lived and we walked past

the church he supported all his life and past the village hall

where he took part in unbelievably long parish council meetings and he

told me what he was most proud of and it was simple - it was working

hard from the moment he left school and providing a good start in life

for his family. Not just all of us, but helping his mum too when his

father ran off. Not a hard luck story, but a hard work story. Work

hard. Family comes first. But put back into the community too. The

job of this party, of this Government, is to help bring out

the best in this country because at our best we are unbeatable. We know

Britain can deliver because we've seen it time and time again. This

is the country that invented the computer, defeated the Nazis,

started the web, saw off the slave trade, unravelled DNA. We even

persuaded The Queen to jump out of a helicopter to make the world

smile. There is nothing we can't do. APPLAUSE

Can we make Britain the best place in the world to start a business,

to grow a business, to help that business take on the world and win?

Yes. Can we the people, the people who invented the welfare State in

the first place, turn it into something that rewards efforts,

that helps keep families to go? That really helps the poorest with

a new start in life? Yes. Can we take those schools and tun out

students that will take on the brightest in the world? Yes, of

course, we can. Let us here in this hall, together in this Government,

build this pledge. Let us build an aspiration nation. Let us get

Britain on the rise. Growth fired up. Aspiration, backed all the way.

We know what it takes to win. To win in the tough world of today. To

win for all our people. To win for Britain. So let us get out there

and do it. APPLAUSE

David Cameron speaking earlier. So what do the party members think of

it all? We sent Adam to find out. What did you reckon of the speech?

I thought it was a very inspiring speech. We came to Birmingham and

everyone thought we would be a divided party. We are backing Boris,

we are backing David. Do you think of the phrase,

"Aspiration nation"? We don't just talk about it. He has given us real

vision and objectives and with his leadership, we can do them.

OK, it went down well with those guys.

Marks out of ten for the speech? will be ten out of ten. That's the

best speech I heard our Prime Minister do ever. It was

aspirational as our friends just said and he talked about the nation.

We are all in this together. It has given everybody that inspiration

and tune and the Prime Minister didn't talk the country down, it

was Britain on the rise. It was a fabulous speech.

He did warn about that sink or swim moment. Who wants to tell me what

the mood was like in the hall? was electric. I think that it is

the messiah that Britain needed and we've got it in David Cameron and

Britain is going to go from strength to strength, but what I

want to say, I am a Muslim Councilor and Islam teaches

Conservatism. We can be successful together.

I have just seen Chris Kelly, are you going to come and talk to us

live on the Daily Politics. Marks out of ten? A solid nine. This is a

Prime Minister that's going to lead us to victory at the next election.

It was a solid performance and it was a very, very good speech.

Lots of your backbench colleagues have been calling for more measures

on growth. I didn't really hear measures for growth? There is a lot

of small manufacturing and engineering companies. George

Osborne has been visiting these companies and they are pleased with

the deficit reduction measures which are giving them the

confidence to win more export business and this has got to be a

private sector-led recovery. In the Black Country we are doing our bit

to help with that growth we need. There was Chris Kelly. You are a

councillor. Marks out of ten? promised a referendum, ten out of

ten. He just ducked the issue. It disappointed me.

How angry are you about that? Is that a serious rupture? I am

disappointed because he had been hinting days ago there would be

some vote and that's what he has been leading us to believe and

there was nothing. I was wait to go hear that. I am -- I was waiting to

hear that. I was disappointed. A female delegate. What did you

think about the Prime Minister talk about his son and late father?

really touched a chord. It was really tense and emotional, but it

wasn't something that was unnecessary. It really gave

something to the speech. I didn't feel like it had been added in for

- his experiences are really important. It was really good.

Thank you. Who saw Boris yesterday? Who would like to compare and

contrast the two? It is difficult to compare those. They are very

different styles. Which one did you prefer?

couldn't possibly comment. Boris, entertainment factor 11. But

Statesmanship, it was Mr Cameron. Adam Fleming there.

Well, straight after the speech Andrew Neil spoke to the Secretary

of State for Culture, Maria Miller. The Prime Minister's theme was that

Britain is on the rise again. Isn't the harsh truth, the only thing

that is on the rise is the deficit is on the rise again? What we have

just had from the Prime Minister is a powerful speech setting out the

true battleground that we need to move forward on. Talking about how

we become a globally more competitive nation through things

like Welfare Reform, educational reform, but making sure that

Britain is a great place to do business.

And what's the answer to my question? The deficit is on the

rise again. Well, the answer to your question is we have cut the

deficit by a quarter... That was last year. That was last year, not

this year. That was last year. Are you telling our viewers today that

in this financial year, the deficit will be smaller than it was last

year? What I am saying is we need to make sure that the financial

year comes to an en. You will know that the financial figures were

revised for last year. What you need to be looking at and what the

nation will be looking at is what the Prime Minister has been setting

out as our real battlegrounds for fighting the next two years to get

Britain back on track so it is the competitive nation we need it to be.

We are dealing with a global economy now. It is no good looking

at our neighbours, we need to be looking at a global level to see

how we can succeed in the future and not get left behind.

Mr Cameron said the Tories are for everyone, north or south, black or

white. It is hardly going to work if your Conservative leader in

Scotland describes 90% of Scots as as stroungers? -- scroungers?

David Cameron was talking about today is true of this party. We are

about the party of aspiration. We are We are about giving people that

opportunity for the future. But coupled with that, we have to make

sure that we have got a fair welfare State. I think the work

that Iain Duncan Smith has been doing has made sure that that would

be a reality. If you are the party of one nation,

how then does your own leader in Scotland describe 90% of Scots as

living off the State, net takers from the State? It doesn't sound

very one nation to me? Well, what is one nation is make sure we give

those people written off by the last Government a real chance.

300,000 more people into work as a result of the effectiveness of that

particular policy. It shows when we have got the right support in place,

we can make a difference and perhaps working with the Scottish

Government we need to make sure that even more people in Scotland

have that opportunity too. Mr Cameron said it is time to sink

or swim. What are we doing at the moment?

Well, what we are doing is clearly setting out the battleground for

the future of this country. Are we sinking or swimming as we set-up

this battleground? It is about swimming in a competitive global

world and that's why it is so important that we are putting in

the infrastructure that I was talking about earlier today, making

sure that 4G is brought forward by six months. Making sure we have

super fast broadband. Making sure the infrastructure is in place so

we cannot only attract international business, but retain

it as well. Sometimes swimming against the tide.

We have been in - you have been in power for two-and-a-half years. Why

haven't we got 4G now. New York has it. I can get it there and

elsewhere, why haven't we got it? For two-and-a-half years we have

been making sure we can work with the operators to get it in place.

Stick with 4G minister. 4G is the ski to a lot -- key to a lot

particularly if you don't live in a big city. Why has your Government

failed to deliver and finds it behind so many other countries when

it comes to the new state-of-the- art internet technology? Well, what

you will know is that we will be bringing in 4 G and the auction and

the money that brings in the first- half of next year and that's six

months in advance of where it was supposed to happen. These are

complex negotiations. It is not just about 4G, making sure that we

have got connectivity up and down the country is about our �500

million investment in super fast broadband for rural areas as well.

Making sure that by 2015, 90% of our country is covered so you know,

altogether, I think we are pressing forward in a way that is impressing.

We are just wondering when you are going to get it to us.

I want to come on to Leveson, but are you open, do you accept that

you may come down in favour of statutory regulation of the press?

The important thing is if you asked somebody to do a report that you

wait and listen to what it says before you come to any final

conclusions. I understand that. Do you rule out

or do you accept the principle that you proceed to Strategic Rail

Authoritytry regulation of the press? -- statutory regulation of

the press? Throughout The Leveson Inquiry, we have seen that things

have been a problem in the past and the whole event touched the nerve

of the nation. We need to wait. Lord Leveson is doing an important

and fundamental report. We need to wait for the findings and then the

Government will respond to that. That's all for tonight and from

Today at Conference for another year. The three biggest party

conferences are over so what have we learnt? Not a great deal has

changed. There has been no shocks or surprises. The Liberal Democrats,

there was no move against Nick Clegg's leadership, but no

substantial sign of any recovery in the party's fortunes. At Labour,

the party leader, Ed Miliband, undoubtedly gave a very well

received speech, but the lack of policy detail means many people are

asking what a future Labour Government may look like. This past

week, the tone of the can Conservative Conference and David

Cameron's speech was serious. Serious people for serious times.