Cameron dismisses 'another relaunch'

David Cameron has described the draft legislative agenda as "another relaunch" designed to ensure the "short-term political survival of the prime minister".

Responding to Gordon Brown statement on Wednesday, the Conservative leader said his party welcomed the thrust of the legislative plan - claiming much of it was Tory policy.

He said the proposed bills were being brought forward to "clear up the mess of the last decade".

The banking bill, he said, was being introduced because the regulatory system set up by Brown in 1997 had failed its first test with the collapse of the Northern Rock Bank.

The NHS bill was necessary because mixed-sex hospital wards persisted a decade on, he said, while the immigration bill reflected the government's failure to predict high levels of immigration.

Cameron welcomed Brown's commitment to personal choice in public services, but said: "Watching this prime minister talk about personal choice, talk about giving people more freedom and letting them have control over their own lives is completely unconvincing."

He went on: "Let's be frank about what today's statement adds up to: It is another relaunch, and he's had to bring it forward.

"He's still struggling to implement last year's Queen's speech. No solution to 42 days, still rewriting last year's budget, whole bills badly drafted, still stuck in the House of Lords, no wonder he wants to talk about next year's Queen's speech.

"But this Queen's speech has nothing to do with the long-term needs of the country, and everything to do with the short-term survival of the prime minister."

Cameron said the government had "run out of steam" when it came to "the progressive goals that we really need to achieve in this country".

"Instead of more redistribution, more tax credits, more top-down state control, we need a government that tackles the underlying causes of poverty.

"We need a government that fights family breakdown, we need a government that breaks open the monopoly of state education, we need a government that can work with the voluntary sector."

Clegg

In his response to the statement, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the prime minister had "really scraped the legislative barrel to save himself this time".

"This long legislative list is a rag-bag of proposals," he told MPs.

Clegg said it had been a "desperate week for the prime minister". "Yesterday he brought forward the Budget by a full 10 months and borrowed £2.7bn to dig himself out of a political hole over the 10p tax rate and still managed to leave a million people worse off," he added.

"We already knew the Conservatives will say anything to get elected and now it's clear that the prime minister will try anything to cling to power."

The Lib Dem leader said Brown was "either addressing things the government said weren't a problem - like the economy - or trying to turn around problems the government itself created - like over-centralisation".

And pointing to a raft of legislation introduced since Labour came to power in 1997, he asked: "How can he tell us with a straight face that he wants to empower people and communities?

"This is the man who turned Britain's doctors and nurses into bean counters. Who took away our freedom of speech and right to protest."

He added: "Can the prime minister tell us, if he wants to devolve power, why is he passing so much more central legislation?

"Another stir of the legislative pot won't save this prime minister."