Cameron attacks "relaunch without a price tag"

David Cameron has criticised Gordon Brown’s attempted relaunch for its “lack of honesty on spending” and “lack of real reform of our public services”.

David pointed to Peter Mandelson’s statement that there will not be a Government spending review before the next election, and stressed that it was a “relaunch without a price tag”.

He said that many of the initiatives announced by the Prime Minister - including the Constitutional Renewal Bill and the simplification of immigration rules – were “rehashed”, and others - including the future fund - were taken from us.

David warned that other proposals amounted to “timid and bureaucratic top-down tinkering” rather than real reform, and stressed:

"The truth about today's statement is it only serves to highlight the decline of this Government. Their money has run out. Their political capital has run out. And now their time is running out."

David also attacked Gordon Brown for delaying the second reading of the Royal Mail bill, and offered to give up the Conservatives' Opposition Day Debate to allow it to be heard.

Ken Clarke, the Shadow Business Secretary, stressed the delay to this “urgent” bill showed that Britain has “a dying government, past its sell-by date and needing to be replaced.”

He said, “I do not believe that this delay is anything to do with a lack of parliamentary time, but if it is we would gladly give up an Opposition Day to make way for the second reading of the bill.”

A "thread of dishonesty" runs through Brown's Premiership

In his regular press conference, David Cameron attacked Gordon Brown for not being straight with people about Labour’s public spending plans.

He accused the Prime Minister of showing “a lack of respect" for the British public by claiming Labour are going to increase spending on public services when their own figures show it will fall.

David said there was “a thread of dishonesty running through (Gordon Brown's) Premiership” - and warned:

"For all their talk of a fresh start, of openness, and of transparency, of a genuine dialogue between government and people, Labour just cannot relinquish the comfort blanket of spin and deception."

David stressed that he and George Osborne have been honest about the need to sort out Britain's public finances – and he made clear:

“The cupboard is bare; tough decisions must be made; cuts cannot be avoided - whoever wins the next election.”

David also discussed the issue of MPs’ second jobs. He said that from the end of December the Shadow Cabinet will give up their outside interests – but he stressed that these interests can be “a good thing” as they bring additional expertise and experience to the House of Commons.

"Of course it is possible to have outside interests and be a good MP. As long as the public have all the information - and they should - they can judge in each case."

To this end, David announced that he was publishing information about the Shadow Cabinet's current outside interests.