Tories 'would freeze licence fee'

Mr Cameron challenged the Government to match his pledge, which he said would provide a lead in showing how taxpayer-funded institutions can "deliver more for less".

Speaking at a press conference in London, Mr Cameron said he wanted to see the BBC "prosper and succeed and continue to be a fantastic cultural asset".

But he said that, in the current tough economic climate, all public institutions had to show that they can "live within their means" and the compulsory fee of £139.50 a year for a colour set should be frozen for one year.

Mr Cameron said that his plan for belt-tightening in public institutions would form part of a "route back to recovery" which he will set out in a series of speeches over the coming weeks.

An incoming Conservative Government would aim to solve "Labour's debt crisis", restore confidence in the financial markets, reduce welfare dependency and rebalance the British economy so it is not so dependent on the City of London for growth, he said.

Mr Cameron said it was important to be frank about the scale of the problems the UK was facing, and said voters would have a clear choice between a Conservative Party which recognised the mistakes that had been made and a Labour Prime Minister who remained tied in to a "failed economic consensus".

The Tory leader - who last week apologised for failing to spot the impending economic crisis - said: "Whoever wins the next General Election, the next Government of this country will need to make a really clean break with the past and set about fixing our economy. I am absolutely determined to do that.

"I believe it means speaking very clearly and frankly about what has gone wrong and how we are going to put it right. I don't want to win the next election on some sort of false prospectus that doesn't recognise how difficult things will be.

"I want to use the time between now and then to take people with us for the difficult decisions that will have to be taken."