Cameron attacks 'short term tricks'

Opening debate on the Queen's Speech, Mr Cameron said the Prime Minister was incapable of delivering the change needed by Britain.

"The real problem with this Queen's Speech is simple. It is the same as the problem with this Prime Minister. Whether it's on housing, immigration, youth unemployment, it is all short term tricks instead of long term problem solving," Mr Cameron said.

Mr Cameron cited as an example Mr Brown's pledge to "deep clean" hospitals to tackle superbugs. "All the things you told us - that it would happen in every hospital, that it would start immediately and be repeated every 18 months - turned out not to be true. What a complete shambles," he said.

Mr Cameron continued: "People are worried about going to hospital and catching a disease which might kill them and all they get from this Government is short term tricks. I'll tell you what needs a deep clean - and that is the culture of spin, deceit and half truths we get from this Government.

He told Mr Brown: "The Queen's Speech doesn't represent, and you don't represent, any real change. You know how to talk about change but the trouble is you can't deliver change. That's what the whole country discovered this autumn."

Mr Cameron said there were Bills the Tories would support - "not least because we proposed them in the first place".

He welcomed legislation on climate change and constitutional renewal. "We support giving Parliament the right to vote on war and the strengthening of select committees. But it is time to go further. We want to see the abolition of the routine guillotining of Bills and giving the Commons more control of its timetable," he said.

Mr Cameron also welcomed counter-terrorism legislation, but warned that the Opposition would press the Government to go further and include the use of intercept evidence in court and the introduction of a border police force. And on party funding, he said there was no justification for more state funding of political parties unless there was a "tough cap" on donations that applied to individuals, businesses and trade unions.

"What I fear we are likely to see is a one-sided Bill and, if that happens, people will conclude that having tried to put off the election once, you are now trying to fix its outcome."