I want 2010s to be the ‘turnaround decade’, says PM Cameron

He will say today that he believes his time as leader could be a ‘defining decade’ and one which people will look back on and say ‘the tide turned’ for the nation’s fortunes.

Speaking in Manchester this lunchtime at his party’s conference, he is expected to say: “I believe that we can make this era – the 2010s – a defining decade for our country... the turnaround decade.”

He will say his two terms as Prime Minister should be a time when people no longer feel the ‘current going against them, but working with them’.

Just months into his second Parliament, Mr Cameron will deliver a bold appraisal of what he believes can be achieved before he stands down.

He will say: “Nothing is written. We’ve proved it in schools across our country that the poorest children don’t have to get the worst results – they can get the best. Over the next five years we will show that the deep problems in our society – they are not inevitable.”

Those trapped in a cycle of renting will also get a boost today from the Prime Minister, who said it should be a wake-up call to the Government that people in their 20s and 30s are still living at home with their parents.

In an attempt to meet their pre-election pledge of building 200,000 more homes across the country by 2020, planning rules will be ripped up to accelerate the availability of low-cost homes to buy.

Guidelines state new housing developments must have a portion of homes which are affordable, but currently the properties go straight to the rental market. This is said to have made developers reluctant to build as they do not believe sites are economically viable.

Now the affordable homes requirement can include ‘Starter Homes’ – properties that people can buy outright for 20 per cent of the market value. The prices of these homes will be capped at £250,000 outside of London.