Tory leader woos middle classes

Tory leader woos middle classes

Middle England has suffered, claims Duncan Smith

Iain Duncan Smith has promised a better future for Britain's middle classes under a Conservative government.

The Tory leader told his party's spring conference on Sunday that middle income, Middle Britain was being punished under Labour.

Middle-income families are bearing the brunt of tax increases, pensions collapse and university top-up fees, he is to say.

After sticking to statesmanlike mode for Saturday, Iain Duncan Smith... used Sunday's keynote speech to pronounce New Labour dead and buried

Nyta Mann
BBC News Online

Analysis: Return to core values

A day after declaring his support for the prime minister on Iraq, Mr Duncan Smith also used his speech to launch an attack on him over domestic issues.

For the Liberal Democrats at their spring conference in Torquay, Iraq was central to their debate on Sunday.

Party leader Charles Kennedy's keynote address repeated his claim the party would unite behind British troops if sent into action, despite opposition to a conflict without a second United Nations resolution.

UK's 'quiet strength'

Mr Duncan Smith used his own conference speech to unveil his "agenda for fairness", which aims to help the vulnerable without penalising higher earners.

"They are the quiet strength of our nation and, yes, they are getting angry", he is due to tell the Harrogate conference.

Fairness for vulnerable people and fairness for the backbone of this country

Iain Duncan Smith
Tory leader

"These people are the backbone of this country and this government has ripped them off."

He announced that the "New Labour project is dead" and that the prime minister "may stay in Downing Street for a couple more years but his mission is over".

"Tony Blair's day of reckoning is fast approaching.

"The British people are ready for change.

"They want change founded on fairness. Fairness for vulnerable people and fairness for the backbone of this country."

He insisted his party's mission remained to improve public services.

"To build one nation. To create a Britain that is fair to all its people."

Our strict quota system for refugees will in due course save more than £1.3bn a year

Oliver Letwin
Shadow home secretary

Earlier in Harrogate on Sunday, shadow health secretary Liam Fox unveiled the "patients passport" scheme which would give a voucher to cover the cost of an operation to all patients needing hospital treatment.

The aim is to give the patient the freedom to spend it anywhere in the public, private or charitable sector.

And shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin set out plans to boost police numbers by 40,000 over eight years.

The increase would be funded by savings made by implementing a quota of refugees agreed by the United Nations and probably set at around 20,000 a year.