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FORGING A STRONGER, FAIRER BRITAIN FOR THE MANY NOT THE FEW

The next election will be a big choice about the change we want for Britain.

Labour offers change for the mainstream middle.  The Conservatives offer change to benefit the privileged few - a change you can't afford.

David Cameron and George Osborne have made the wrong judgements on the economy - on deregulation, on Northern Rock, on help for business and families.

Now they threaten to choke off the recovery by cutting off support at the worst possible time.

Their judgement is wrong on the recession, wrong on the recovery.

The British people are right to be uncertain of what the Conservatives would do.

The Conservatives have made promise after promise - but David Cameron has shown he will break a cast-iron guarantee.

>> The next steps for Building Britain's Future

The Queen's Speech set out the next steps in Building Britain's Future. Our legislation for the next parliamentary session is a programme of tough action on the big issues that matter to people, in line with this Government's core values of fairness and responsibility.

At the heart of the Queen's Speech is the conviction that government can be a force for good - to secure economic prosperity and build a fairer society. Not small government or big government, but smarter - reformed and responsive - government.

Our focus, as ever, is economic growth, locking in the recovery and forging a stronger, fairer Britain for the many not the few.

>> Labour's optimism and Britain's bright future

This is a difficult period for our country, but we are optimistic. Britain has a bright future, not of austerity but of progress, based on the country's greatest strength: the talent and enterprise of the people.

It's little surprise that David Cameron doesn't want to talk about the policies in the Queen's Speech - and about how he would put them at risk. For example, while we are introducing a National Care Service, all he would offer is a local care lottery.

The Tories' vision for Britain is fundamentally pessimistic - about a Britain that is broken and with only an age of austerity to look forward to. The Conservative approach is to abandon the responsibility of government; to let the recession take its course; and to leave people to sink or swim.

>> Investing for the future: building tomorrow's economy today

We will ensure that the banking crisis we have experienced over the last two years should never again come at a cost to the living standards of Britain's families. Instead we will rebuild banking so that it supports the economy and offers fairer finances for businesses and consumers.

We will transform the way the financial sector is policed, through the Financial Services Bill, with banks themselves and not the taxpayer made to pay for bank failings.

As the economic recovery is established, we will legislate to require reductions in government borrowing in a fair and responsible way with the Fiscal Responsibility Bill. This will ensure the national debt returns to a sustainable level, enshrining in law the Budget plan to halve the deficit in four years, with the Government accountable to Parliament rather than a new quango.

>> Targeted investment strategy to promote growth

And as a key part of our strategy for growth, we will promote targeted investment that creates jobs and builds a modern green infrastructure for the digital age. The Digital Economy Bill is a key part of Labour's active industrial strategy and will maintain and build on Britain's leading position in the digital sector.

The Energy Bill will bring about a financial support mechanism to demonstrate carbon capture and storage at a commercial scale. It will also establish a mandatory social price support scheme to help more of the most vulnerable households with their energy bills, and requires the regulator, Ofgem, to ensure consumers get a better, fairer deal and access to secure, low carbon energy supplies.

Better protection for businesses, communities and homes from the risks of extreme weather as a result of climate change will be provided by the Flood and Water Management Bill.

And the Child Poverty Bill will enshrine in law the Government's commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020, defining what this means.

The Conservatives are wrong on the recession and wrong on the recovery. George Osborne would choke off recovery by cutting support at the worst possible time.

For all George Osborne's tough talk on bankers, they spent ten years calling for deregulation; and even as the financial crisis started, they welcomed a report calling for the abolition of all mortgage regulation.

>> Fair chances for all: building the next generation of public services

A better Britain means world class public services underpinned by guarantees not gambles. So we are moving to a system, building on the achievements of the last 12 years, where patients, parents and local communities have enforceable rights over the services they receive - and front line staff have more freedom to shape services.

The Children, Schools and Families Bill will provide guarantees for parents and pupils, setting out what they can expect, with School Report Cards letting parents know how their school is performing and a new duty on local authorities to act when parents are unhappy. Where standards are unacceptably low, Ministers will be able to direct a local authority to issue a warning notice to a school and to close any school which fails to comply with a warning notice.

The Social Care Bill means the dignity of a new national care service: free personal care in their own homes for those with the highest need. From next October more than 275,000 of those with the greatest needs will be protected for good from charges and top-up fees for care in their own homes, funded by making the tough choices necessary to secure efficiencies in lower priority programmes. To help more people meet this aspiration we will also next year, begin to offer 130,000 older people needing care for the first time, six weeks of more personal intensive support designed to help all who want to remain in their homes. This will mean that those who have suffered from a stroke, fall or hospital stay will have the best possible opportunity to return to their homes and the intensive support to give them dignity and confidence in doing so.

The Conservatives plan to introduce "Swedish-style" schools - a policy the Tories admit could lead to schools in rented office blocks without playing fields. Evidence from the Swedish National Agency for Education suggests the policy could well cost the Tories more, not less as they claim.

The Conservatives would scrap Labour's guarantees for patients - including the right to see a cancer specialist within two weeks if your GP suspects you may have cancer. They would scrap our guarantees to young people - including the right to an education or training place for 16 and 17 year olds.

The Conservatives offer a local care lottery - not a National Care Service. David Cameron's plan would do nothing for people unless they leave their homes and move into permanent residential care. The Tories have been forced to concede that they would not cover the full costs of all residential care, so under Conservative plans pensioners may end up having to pay top-ups.

>> Fair rules: building a strong society

On crime, we will prioritise new ways to tackle the anti-social behaviour that still blights some estates and neighbourhoods.

The Crime and Security Bill will protect communities by making parents take responsibility for their child's antisocial behaviour, imposing parenting orders when a young person has breached an ASBO. The Bill will introduce new powers to help break up youth gangs, cut the time police spend on stop and search forms, help victims of domestic violence by allowing police to bar suspected perpetrators from their homes for fixed periods, set a six-year time limit on DNA record-keeping for adults whom are arrested but not charged, and introduce compulsory licensing for wheel clamping businesses.

The Digital Economy Bill will protect children through new age ratings for computer games.

The Bribery Bill will equip prosecutors and courts to deal effectively with bribery at home and abroad.

With the Equality Bill we will introduce a new public sector duty to narrow the gap between rich and poor, ban age discrimination outside the workplace, and introduce reporting for large employers on gender pay.

And we will enact the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 to provide agency workers equal treatment with permanent staff on pay and holidays after 12 weeks in a job.

The Conservatives talk Britain down. David Cameron claims our society is broken.

The Conservatives would cut 3,500 Police officers from our streets this year and they would make it harder for the Police to use DNA evidence to track down criminals.

>> Rebuilding trust in a modern, democratic Britain

We must restore confidence in our democratic institutions.

The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill contains measures to rebuild trust in our democracy by putting the civil service on a statutory footing, provide a power for the House of Lords to expel a member and end the by-election of hereditary peers.

The draft House of Lords Reform Bill will set out how the Government will bring about a wholly or substantially elected second chamber of Parliament.

>> Britain in a fairer, safer world

We will also ensure a better world by extending Britain's influence as a global force for good. Fulfilling our responsibilities means we must remain at the heart of Europe and a leading member of the wider international community. And a safer Britain means continuing to tackle the terrorist threat at source - in the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill will implement in UK law the Convention on Cluster Munitions that bans the use, development, production, stockpiling, retention or transfer of cluster munitions.

The draft International Development Bill will make binding the Government's commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on international development by 2013.

The Conservatives' obsession with Europe means they would spend 5 years on institutional wrangling in Brussels. David Cameron has dragged his party to the fringes of Europe - and by leaving Britain isolated he would put British jobs and businesses at risk.