Red tape slashed, 'common sense policing' restored, as Cameron and Clegg set out stall (with video)

The agreement covers 31 areas ranging from banking to universities and further education. It commits the coalition Government to introducing a banking levy, and an independent commission will examine the former Lib Dem commitment to separate retail and investment banking - with a report due in a year's time.

The administration will "seek to ensure an injection of private capital into Royal Mail, including opportunities for employee ownership". Post Office Ltd will remain in public ownership, according to the document.

It confirms pledges to scrap the ID card scheme and national identity register, and introduce a Freedom Bill.

Home information packs will be consigned to history, with property sellers no longer required to spend money on providing packs of information before they can market their homes.

In the foreword, Mr Clegg and Prime Minister David Cameron wrote: "In every part of this agreement we have gone further than simply adopting those policies where we previously overlapped.

"We have found that a combination of our parties' best ideas and attitudes has produced a programme for government that is more radical and comprehensive than our individual manifestos.

"For example, when you take Conservative plans to strengthen families and encourage social responsibility and add them to the Liberal Democrat passion for protecting our civil liberties and stopping the relentless incursion of the state into the lives of individuals, you create a big society matched by big citizens."

Speaking this morning, Mr Clegg said: "This document sets out, page by page, line by line, detailed changes that will make your life better.

"From now on, we get down to work."

Mr Cameron admitted that both parties had been forced to sacrifice policies.

"Some policies have been lost on both sides, some have been changed and yes, we have had to find ways to deal with the issues where we profoundly disagree," he said.

The Prime Minister said he wanted to be "completely frank" about the compromises that had been made.

He said the Tories would deliver many of the things they had promised during the General Election, but acknowledged: "The bad news is that some policies have been changed."

But he went on to insist that the "real news" - and the concept in which he said all Conservatives believe - is that Britain has "strong and stable government in the national interest".

Mr Cameron said the two parties had agreed an "extensive and detailed reform agenda".

He added: "The more that we talked, the more we listened, the more we realised that our visions for the future and the values that inspired them are strengthened and enhanced by each of the two parties coming together."

On crime and policing, the 31-page document - titled "Our programme for Government" - promises to slash bureaucracy and amend health and safety laws that restrict "common sense policing".

It also says people will be given "greater legal protection to prevent crime and apprehend criminals", and the sale of alcohol below cost price will be banned.

Councils will be allowed to charge more for late-night licences to fund extra policing - although there is no explicit commitment to reversing 24-hour licensing rules.

Britain's nuclear deterrent will be maintained, with Trident scrutinised to ensure "value for money". But Lib Dems "will continue to make the case for alternatives".

Deficit reduction is described as "the most urgent issue facing Britain". The reduction of the structural deficit will be "significantly accelerated" and the "main burden" will be borne by spending cuts rather than tax rises.

There is a commitment that Lib Dems will be able to abstain from planning reforms that will make it easier to build nuclear power stations. The party has confirmed it will not be regarded as an "issue of confidence".

The document is missing a key Tory pre-election pledge - scrapping Government-imposed targets in the NHS.

The Tory manifesto promised to "scrap the politically motivated targets that have no clinical justification".

But today's deal makes no specific mention of doing away with targets, saying only that the Government will seek to measure "health results that really matter".

This will include focusing on outcomes for patients, such as improving cancer and stroke survival rates.