Cuts will bring rewards, insists 'We're all in this together' Cameron

In his first speech to a Conservative conference as Prime Minister, he accepted that people were "anxious" about the impact of cuts like the abolition of Child Benefit for higher-rate taxpayers announced this week, but insisted: "There is no other responsible way."

It was "right" that those with broader shoulders bore a larger share of the burden of reducing the deficit, and the Government would always aim to ensure measures to cut spending were "fair", he said.

Mr Cameron issued a call to Britons to "pull together" as the nation seeks to restore its economic stability, telling them: "Your country needs you."

The Conservatives' slogan "We're all in this together" was "not a cry for help, but a call to arms", he said, as he urged citizens to take part in projects to improve their communities, start up businesses and challenge waste.

He painted a vision of "a more powerful people ... people that believe in themselves, a Britain that believes in itself" as he said: "Come on: let's pull together. Let's come together. Let's work together in the national interest."

Looking ahead to Chancellor George Osborne's spending review on October 20, Mr Cameron recognised that the measures he will unveil to eliminate the structural deficit within five years will be felt by voters across the country in the shape of job losses and scaled-back Government programmes.

"Reducing spending will be difficult," he said. "There are programmes that will be cut. There are jobs that will be lost. There are things Government does today that it will have to stop doing."

In his only reference to the row over child benefit that has dominated the conference in Birmingham and which forced him to make a TV apology last night, Mr Cameron said: "As we work to balance the budget, fairness includes asking those on higher incomes to shoulder more of the burden than those on lower incomes.

"I'm not saying this is going to be easy, as we've seen with child benefit this week. But it's fair that those with broader shoulders should bear a greater load."

He added: "I know how anxious people are.

"'Yes', they say, 'of course we need to cut spending. But do we have to cut now and by this much? Isn't there another way?'

"I wish there was another way. I wish there was an easier way. But I tell you: there is no other responsible way."

He denounced Labour's plan to scale back the deficit at a slower pace as "selfish and irresponsible" and warned it would lead to more cuts in the long run. And he held out the prospect of a better Britain once the deficit was brought under control.

"I promise you that if we pull together to deal with these debts today, then just a few years down the line the rewards will be felt by everyone in the country," said Mr Cameron.

"More money in your pocket. More investment in our businesses. Growing industries, better jobs, stronger prospects for our young people.

"And the thing that you can't measure, but you just know it when you see it - the sense that our country is moving forwards once again."

Labour's policy of delaying reductions in the deficit meant it would defer debt repayments to future generations, said Mr Cameron, who angrily added the party should never again be allowed to run the economy.

He said his message to Labour was: "You want us to spend more money on ourselves today, to keep racking up the bills today, and leave it to our children - the ones who had nothing to do with this - to pay our debts tomorrow.

"That is selfish and irresponsible.

"I tell you what: these Labour politicians who nearly bankrupted our country, who left a legacy of debts and cuts, who are still in denial about the disaster they created, they must not be allowed anywhere near our economy ever, ever again."

Mr Cameron's speech comes just weeks ahead of the Strategic Defence and Security Review which is likely to pave the way for the defence budget to be sliced by around 10%.

He acknowledged today the SDSR would mean "some big changes" for the armed forces.

But he added: "I promise you this: I will take no risks with Britain's security.

"That's why, when more and more countries have or want nuclear weapons, we will always keep our ultimate insurance policy, we will renew our nuclear deterrent based on the Trident missile system."

The Prime Minister restated his intention to remove British combat troops from Afghanistan by 2015, saying "we will not stay a day longer than we need to".

In a lengthy section of the speech devoted to his "Big Society" agenda, Mr Cameron dismissed Labour claims that it was simply a cover for imposing spending cuts by making the public volunteer to do jobs currently done by the state.

The Big Society was about "Government helping to build a nation of doers and go-getters, where people step forward not sit back, where people come together to make life better", he said.

The "beating, radical heart" of the Government was shifting power away from the centre to ordinary people, allowing them more choice over services, more transparency about state spending and greater ability to get involved in running and shaping local services in their communities.

"We are the radicals now, breaking apart the old system with a massive transfer of power from the state to citizens, politicians to people, Government to society," said the Prime Minister.

"That is the power shift this country needs today."

The experience of the Labour years had proved that the "old way" of pouring money into public services did not deliver a difference to health, education and crime, Mr Cameron claimed.

And he added: "We can build a country defined not by the selfishness of the Labour years but by the values of mutual responsibility that this party holds dear.

"A country defined not by what we consume but by what we contribute. A country, a society where we say: I am not alone, I will play my part, I will work with others to give Britain a brand new start."

Urging citizens to take an active role in society, he said: "When we say 'we are all in this together', that is not a cry for help but a call to arms.

"Society is not a spectator sport. This is your country. It's time to believe it. It's time to step up and own it."

Mr Cameron rejected Labour's claim to be the party of "fairness", accusing the former administration of throwing money at the disadvantaged rather than helping them out of poverty.

He vowed that the Government would always look after "people who are sick, who are vulnerable, the elderly".

But he insisted that help should only go to those who were "deserving" and said the Government would not allow those who refuse to work to live on benefits paid for by other people's taxes.

"Fairness means supporting people out of poverty, not trapping them in dependency," he said.

"So we will make a bold choice. For too long we have measured success in tackling poverty by the size of the cheque we give people. We say: let's measure our success by the chance we give.

"Let's support real routes out of poverty: a strong family; a good education; a job."

And he added: "Fairness isn't just about who gets help from the state. The other part of the equation is who gives that help through their taxes.

"Taking more money form the man who goes out to work long hours each day so the family next door can go on living a life on benefits without working - is that fair?

"Fairness means giving people what they deserve - and what people deserve depends on how they behave.

"If you really cannot work, we'll look after you. But if you can work but refuse to work we will not let you live off the hard work of others."