06/11/07 - Tired Labour Led By Weak Brown

Conservative leader David Cameron has said the Queen's Speech shows Prime Minister Gordon Brown is "weak" and cannot be the "change Britain needs".

"When it comes to real substantive change.. (the PM) is not capable of offering anything new," he told MPs.

He said some bills had been "recycled" and others proposed by his own party.

He also warned against pushing party funding proposals through, saying people would see it as an attempt to "fix" the next election's outcome.

'Lack of vision'

In his response to the Queen's Speech in the Commons, Mr Cameron said: "Say what you like about Tony Blair, at least he was decisive.

"Isn't the only change we've had is to swap a strong prime minister for a weak one?

"Mr Speaker, this lack of vision, this weakness wouldn't matter so much if they were halfway competent.

"But this is a government that is letting 2,000 prisoners out of jail early every month, this is a government that allowed 8,000 people to die from hospital infections, this is a government that some how lost track of 300,000 migrants inside a week."

The Conservative leader said some proposals, like those on climate change and more flexible working, had come from the Tories and said others had been "recycled" - for example proposals on using unclaimed assets and the Crossrail Bill, which had been announced 11 times before.

English votes

Mr Cameron said the Conservatives would continue to push for a referendum on the EU reform treaty, as well as "English votes for English laws" - to give MPs representing English seats the "decisive say" on matters affecting only English constituencies.

On the counter-terrorism bill, he said the Conservatives would support moves to allow suspects to be questioned after they have been charged and would press the government to allow intercept evidence to be used in court and for a "proper" border force.

But he said state funding for political parties could not be justified without tough caps on all donations - including those from trade unions, something strongly opposed by the Labour Party.

"What I fear we are likely to see is a one-sided bill. I have to say to the prime minister, people will conclude, if that happens, having put off the election once, he's now trying to fix its outcome," Mr Cameron said.

He said the government's plans to "deep clean" hospital wards to combat infections had been exposed as a "complete shambles" because the Department of Health would not be monitoring its success.

And he accused the government of "slamming on the brakes" on the City Academies programme and handing control back to local education authorities.

He said it would not bring in the necessary changes to the welfare system to tackle the problem of "millions of people on benefits".

He said the problem with the speech was "the same as the problem with the prime minister.

"Whether it is on housing, immigration, youth unemployment, it's all short-term tricks instead of long-term problem solving."

Cllr Justin Tomlinson, "Gordon Brown now only offers the same old, tired spin.  With so little energy, enthusiasm and vision it is no wonder Brown 'bottled' a snap election as local residents would have rightly voted for change and they would have been booted out of power."