Cameron promises 'land of opportunity' in key speech

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron urged voters on Wednesday to give his Conservative party time to finish the job of economic recovery and create a "land of opportunity" built on pro-business values.

In his keynote speech closing the party's annual conference, Cameron insisted the economy was turning a corner after years of austerity as he set out his goal of winning a majority in the 2015 general election.

He repeatedly attacked the "socialist" opposition Labour party, which he blames for creating Britain's record deficit while in office before 2010, and said that profit and tax cuts were no longer "dirty, elitist words".

"Together we will finish the job we've started and together we will build that land of opportunity," Cameron said to applause from delegates in Manchester, northwest England.

"A country built on that enduring principle, seared in our hearts, that if you work hard, save, play by the rules and do your fair share -- then nothing should stand in your way."

Britain is three years into the Conservative-led coalition's programme of spending cuts, and finance minister George Osborne warned on Monday there would be no let up for years to come.

But Cameron has seized on signs of recovery and his party's improved poll ratings to strike a more upbeat tone, painting a picture of a country where children are pushed hard at school and the jobless are helped "to stand on their own two feet".

The only new policy in the speech involved welfare, as Cameron suggested removing housing and unemployment benefits from people under 25 who are not in work or training.

He barely mentioned the Liberal Democrats, the Tories' junior coalition partners, although he said he would not be actively seeking to share government with them in 2015.

"When that election comes, we won't be campaigning for a coalition, we will be fighting head, heart and soul for a majority Conservative government -- because that's what the country needs," he said.

Instead Cameron focused on Labour with a string of bitter attacks, the most animated moments in an otherwise low-key address, suggesting Labour leader Ed Miliband's own policy-packed conference speech last week had hit a nerve.

Cameron said Labour was failing people by expecting nothing of them, and accused it of "1970s-style socialism" after Miliband last week pledged to freeze energy prices for 20 months if Labour were elected.

Labour has tried to shift the debate from whether austerity works to whether economic growth will improve living standards, and Cameron acknowledged that "people have found it hard to make ends meet" since austerity bit.

But he insisted that supporting businesses to create jobs was the only solution.

"We know that profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise -- these are not dirty, elitist words. They're not the problem, they really are the solution," Cameron said.

Business lobby group the CBI praised Cameron's speech, saying he "sent a strong message about how vital British business is to the future prosperity of people across the UK."

The Conservatives have announced a raft of policies this week aimed at "hard-working people", including bringing forward a plan for the state to guarantee mortgages for people struggling to buy a home.

But their claims to understand the masses were undermined by Cameron's admission in an interview that he did not know the price of bread, and his widely-mocked defence that he made his own in an expensive breadmaker.

"He does not know where to start in tackling the cost of living crisis facing Britain's hard-working families," Miliband said after the speech.

Much of the talk at the Tory conference has been about the threat posed by the eurosceptic, anti-immigration UK Independence Party, which is polling at 11 percent.

Cameron did not address them by name, but highlighted his promise to reform the European Union before holding a referendum on membership by 2017, saying: "It will be your choice, in or out."

And he claimed that taking a strong stance had won Britain friends on the continent: "In doing all this we haven't lost respect, we have won allies to get powers back from Europe."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pm-offers-vision-beyond-austerity-021907212.html

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