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| Cameron tells Tories: your country needs you Prime minister tells Tory conference he wants to build a country based on values of mutual interest, defined 'not by what we consume but by what we contribute'David Cameron today attempted to draw a line under a week of controversy over cuts when he told the British people in his keynote speech at the Conservative party conference: "Your country needs you."The prime minister promised the public they would have more money in their pockets within "just a few years" if they toughed out the forthcoming spending cuts, saying there was "no other responsible way" to deal with the budget deficit.Cameron – who was yesterday forced to apologise to voters for breaking an election promise after the decision to withdraw child benefit from 1.2 million higher rate payers was announced – delivered a robust defence of the need to share the pain of cutting the deficit in his first conference speech as prime minister.In a speech that won a two and a half minute ovation from Tory delegates in Birmingham, the prime minister said he wanted to build a country based on the values of mutual interest, defined "not by what we consume but by what we contribute".Urging citizens to take an active role in society in the national interest, he said: "Your country needs you."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."Some of the biggest cheers were saved for Cameron's passionate attack on Labour, whose politicians he said were "still in denial about the disaster they created"."They must not be allowed anywhere near our economy ever, ever again," he told delegates.In a swipe at the new Labour leader, Ed Miliband, Cameron said the Labour conference had been "less Red Ed than redhead" – a reference to the former leader Neil Kinnock, who he said had dominated the Labour conference in Manchester last week. "He said he had got his party back. You're welcome to it," Cameron said.In a nod to Conservative jitters about the decision to go into coalition with the Liberal Democrats, he stood by Nick Clegg and described the government as one of "proper partners making big decisions, shaping what we do and taking responsibility". He added: "We are the radicals now.""I know there are a few who say that we should have sat tight, waited for our opponents to fall out and brought in a minority government," he said. But a minority government would have limped through parliament, unable to do anything useful for our country."He joked that his daughter Nancy once asked him why he spent so much time with someone called "Nick Leg" and said that, while the two did not agree on everything, they recognised they could work together, with a "shared way of trying to do business".Cameron made a brief reference to the backlash over the announcement of an end to child benefits for higher earners from 2013 to acknowledge "how anxious people are" over the need to cut spending.He said many were wondering whether there an easier way to deal with what he described as the "catastrophic" public finances the coalition had inherited from Labour."I wish there was an easier way, but I tell you – there is no other responsible way," he said.The cuts – averaging 25% per government department over four years – would be even worse if the deficit was not tackled quickly, he added."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 our country," he said.."More money in your pocket, more investment in our businesses, growing industries, better jobs, stronger prospects for our young people, and the thing you can't measure but you just know it when you see it – the sense that our country is moving ahead once more."Cameron insisted the better off had to play their part in reducing the country's record deficit."The big society spirit means facing up to this generation's debts, not shirking responsibility, but the spending cuts that are made will be done in a way that is fair," he said."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, and I think it's time for a new conversation about what fairness really means."However, he failed to raise the prospect of a marriage tax break – something he and other Tories have floated this week as a possible way to offset the effects of the child benefit cut.In a tough message to the unemployed and the poor, he warned benefit claimants that they would not be allowed to live off taxes paid by working families if they were able to work themselves.He assured the sick, vulnerableand elderly that the government "will always look after you"."Fairness means giving people what they deserve," he said. "And what people deserve depends on how they behave. If you cannot really work, we will look after you. But if you can work, but refuse to work, we will not let you live off the hard work of others."In society, people who are sick, who are vulnerable, the elderly ... I want you to know that we will always look after you."That's the sign of a civilised society, and it's what I believe. But you can't measure fairness just by how much money we spend on welfare, as though the poor are products with a price tag, the more we spend on them the more we value them."Fairness means supporting people out of poverty, not trapping them in dependency."Investment would go into early years support, getting troubled families "back on track", pupil premiums for poorer children and recognition for marriage in the tax system, he said.Cameron said Iain Duncan Smith's welfare reforms would show the government was on the side of single mothers who want to work and ensure that people will be better off for getting a job.In a lengthy section devoted to his "big society" idea, 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.Cameron said the "big society" was not a ruse to allow the government to abdicate its role, but to change it.Tory activists have complained that the idea played badly on the doorstep at the general election, with many struggling to explain what their leader had in mind.Today, Cameron said it 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 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."He challenged citizens to engage in a joint venture in the years ahead, saying: "Yes, we will play our part – but the part you play will mean even more. Your country needs you. It takes two."He announced an international citizen service, similar to the American peace corps, to allow thousands of young people who could not otherwise afford it a chance to see the world.The "beating, radical heart" of the government was shifting power away from the centre to ordinary people, allowing them more choice over services, greater transparency about state spending and greater ability to get involved in running and shaping local services in their communities, he said."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," he told the conference.Cameron also warned banks that they must "repay the favour" from taxpayers who had bailed them out by restoring lending to British businesses."There's another way we are getting behind business – by sorting out the banks," he said. "Taxpayers bailed you out. Now it's time for you to repay the favour and start lending to Britain's small businesses again."David CameronConservative conferenceConservativesEconomic policyWelfareSocial exclusionPovertyEqualityChild benefitCommunitiesChildrenHĂ©lène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
'Whistleblowers' charter' for NHS NHS whistleblowers will be given greater protection under changes being considered in the aftermath of the nursing standards scandal at Mid Staffordshire hospitals. telegraph.co.uk |
Debate on meat-eating does not cut the mustard | Andy Atkins Unhelpful, polarised arguments are preventing any sort of sustainable transformation of the farming sectorShortly before the Copenhagen climate talks last year, the media whipped itself into a frenzy over some "controversial claims" made by Lord Nicholas Stern, author of a government review on the economics of climate change. "Climate chief Lord Stern: Give up meat to save the planet," one headline reported him as saying. Except that he didn't.When he stated an unpalatable but irrefutable fact – that rearing meat has a higher environmental impact than producing a vegetarian diet – Lord Stern committed an incitement to vegetarianism that many found hard to stomach.In January 2009 a plan to reduce the amount of meat served in hospitals to healthier and more sustainable levels was included in an NHS carbon reduction strategy. The proposal focused on reducing meat, not cutting it out entirely, and sourcing local produce, but was reported as a "removal" and a "ban" on meat and was criticised in the media. The plan was subsequently scrapped.Such is our approach to eating – and talking about – meat. While both the health and environmental arguments for a re-think are sound and compelling, it's an issue so sensitive and polarising that the idea of change and moderation simply doesn't cut the mustard.But the arguments are staggering. Producing meat takes up 70% of the world's farming land and generates a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions. It requires around three-and-a-half times as much land to produce a high-meat as a low-meat diet. Given that we're on course to double meat production by 2050, surely something has to give?The health imperatives are as compelling as the environmental concerns. In the west we eat far more meat than is necessary or healthy. New research for Friends of the Earth published today shows that a shift to lower meat diets could prevent 45,000 deaths – and save the NHS ÂŁ1.2bn – each year. So what's stopping us from cutting down?For a start, we're not geared up for it. While people who eat no meat at all are identified and identifiable as vegetarians, there is no commonly accepted term for people who eat it only a couple of times a week and are selective about its quality. Attempts to establish a suitable label for the low-meat eater – "ecotarian" and "meat reducer", amazingly, the least awful – haven't caught on.Our all-or-nothing approach to meat eating leaves us with no understanding – and little tolerance – of the concept of a low-meat meat diet. It's awkward telling friends who know you eat meat that you'd rather have a specially prepared vegetarian option when you're invited round for dinner. It smacks of the sort of hypocritical vegetarianism that people love to sniff out and ridicule and it's much easier to just avoid the issue and eat whatever's going.But avoiding social and political awkwardness is preventing us – as a society – from transforming our farming sector into one that's sustainable. Producing meat that's planet-friendly and continuing to enjoy it in the future means re-thinking the type and quantity we consume now. While we're distracted by an unhelpful, polarised debate, we're losing out on opportunities to drive forward changes that would help us to make this shift.Next month MPs have a real opportunity to make a real difference when Rob Flello MP's sustainable livestock bill is voted on in Parliament.It calls for big changes to the way that the meat and dairy industry is funded and supported and would help ensure that the food we eat is healthier for people and healthier for the planet. Surely that's not so hard to swallow?• Andy Atkins is the executive director of Friends of the EarthThe meat industryFarmingFoodFood & drinkClimate changeRural affairsAndy Atkinsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Miliband: We need profound change Labour leader Ed Miliband warns the UK risks "sleepwalking" back into recession unless the coalition changes its policies. bbc.co.uk |
Ambulance driver on 999 call arrested for drink driving after seven-car crash An ambulance driver has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after he was involved in a seven-vehicle crash while answering a 999 call. telegraph.co.uk |