The Right Honourable David Cameron MP - Election 2010: David Cameron's speech in full lyrics

At yesterday's General Election the Conservative Party gained more seats than at any election for the last 80 years. "I'm incredibly proud, not only of the strong result that we achieved, but of the strong and positive campaign that we fought. "We campaigned for hope, not fear, and people responded to that, giving us two million more votes than Labour. "We campaigned for change, not more of the same, and people responded to that, giving us a higher share of the vote than Labour achieved at the last election when they won a majority of 60. "There are many great new Conservative Members of Parliament who will be coming to the House of Commons, and I am very proud this will be a new, modern Conservative Party in Parliament. "I know it will make a huge difference to our politics. "To all those Conservative Party supporters, members and activists who fought so hard, not just in the last few weeks, but in the last few years, I want to say a huge thank you, and to remind you how proud you can be of the result - a bigger increase in seats than even Margaret Thatcher achieved in 1979, the worst loss of seats for Labour than at any General election since 1931, and a share of the vote not far off what Michael Foot got in 1983. "But however much pride we can take in that enormous advance, we have to accept that we fell short of an overall majority. "As I said last night, Britain needs strong, stable decisive government and it is in the national interest that we get that on a secure basis. "We are at war in Afghanistan with our troops putting their lives at risk for us every day. "We are facing a financial and economic situation of great seriousness as a result of our dangerous debts and our deficit. "We need a government that rea**ures the international markets, we need policies that will bring economic recovery, and we need a government that understands that great change is needed in order to restore faith in our political system. "Britain voted for change yesterday, but it also voted for a new politics, it did not vote for party political bickering, grandstanding and point-scoring. "Our country's problems are too serious, they are too urgent for that. So we must all rise to this occasion, we must show leadership. "We must sort things out as quickly as possible for the good of the country. "Nick Clegg has said that because the Conservative Party won the most votes and the most seats in this election we should have the chance to form a government and I thank him for that. "So we will now begin talks with other parties to see how that can be done. One option would be to give other parties rea**urances about certain policy areas and then seek their agreement to allow a minority Conservative government to continue in office without the country constantly facing the threat of its government falling. "This is what is known as a confidence and supply arrangement. "It has been done before and yes we can try to do it again. But I am prepared to consider alternative options. "It may be possible to have stronger, more stable, more collaborative government than that. "There is a case for going further than an arrangement which simply keeps a minority Conservative government in office. "So I want to make a big, open and comprehensive offer to the Liberal Democrats. "I want us to work together in tackling our country's big and urgent problems, the debt crisis, our deep social problems, and our broken political system. "Let me explain my thinking. First, it is right and reasonable to acknowledge that of course there are policy disagreements between us, many of which were highlighted in those television debates. "To fellow Conservatives who have fought and campaigned and worked so hard to achieve the ma**ive advance we have made in this campaign, I want to make it clear that I do not believe any government should give more powers to the European Union. "I do not believe that any government can be weak or soft on the issue of immigration which needs to be controlled properly, and the country's defences must be kept strong. "I also believe that on the basis of the election result that we achieved, it is reasonable to expect that the bulk of the policies in our manifesto should be implemented. "But across our two manifestos, there are many areas of common ground and there are areas I believe that we in the Conservative Party can give ground, both in the national interest and in the interest of forging an open and trusting partnership. "We share a strong desire to make opportunity more equal in this country, and I recognise the high priority that the Liberal Democrats have given to the proposal for a pupil premium in our schools. We agree with this idea, it is in our manifesto too, and I am sure we can develop a common approach that recognises the urgency that the Liberal Democrats have attached to this proposal. "The Liberal Democrats in their manifesto have made the achievement of a low carbon economy an absolute priority and we support this aim. I am sure that we can agree a common plan to achieve it. "The Liberal Democrats have also made proposals to reform our tax system. We both agree that Labour's jobs tax, as the Liberal Democrat's manifesto puts it is a damaging tax on jobs and we would seek to reverse it. It has always been an aspiration of the Conservative Party to reduce taxes, especially on those who earn the least. And we are happy to give this aim a much higher priority and work together to determine how it can be afforded. "We share a common commitment to civil liberties and to getting rid immediately of Labour's ID card scheme. "On our political system, we agree with the Liberal Democrats that reform is urgently needed to help restore trust and that reform must include the electoral system. "The Liberal Democrats have their ideas, we have our ideas, for example that all seats should be of equal size, so that votes can have an equal value in a first-past-the-post system, and other parties have constructive proposals to put forward as well. "So I believe we will need an all-party committee of inquiry on political and electoral reform. "So I think we have a strong basis for a strong government. Inevitably the negotiations we are about to start will involve compromise - that is what working together in the national interest means. "But no Government will be in the national interest unless it deals with the biggest threat to our national interest and that is the deficit. We remain completely convinced that starting to deal with the deficit this year is essential. "This has been more than confirmed by recent events in other European countries, recent instability in the markets, and recent conversations that we have had with both the Treasury and the Bank of England. "The national interest is clear - the world is looking to Britain for decisive action. The new government must grip this deficit and prevent the economic catastrophe that would result by putting off the difficult and the urgent action hat needs to be taken. "So our big, open and comprehensive offer to the Liberal Democrats involves helping them to implement key planks of their election manifesto, providing the country with economic, as well as political stability and finding further ways in which Liberal Democrats can be involved in making this happen "The outgoing government has left this country with terrible problems, an economic and financial crisis, deep social problems, a political system in which people, too many people, have lost faith. "The new government will face the worst inheritance of any incoming government for at least 60 years. "That is exactly why it's so important we have strong, stable government that lasts - a strong stable government that has the support of the public to take the difficult decisions that are needed if we're going to put this country back on the right track for a stronger future. "There is one further point I want to make. I believe that it's not just important for this country to have strong and stable government, it's important that we get that strong and stable government quickly. "So I hope we can reach agreement quickly on the big, open and comprehensive offer that I've outlined today. As I've argued in this General Election campaign, this is a great country hut we could be doing so much better. "We don't have to settle for the debt and the waste and the taxes left to us by Labour. We can put behind us the economic problems, the social breakdown, the political division and the distrust that are the poisonous legacy of 13 years of Labour misrule. "Of course I hoped that a Conservative majority would be the outcome of this election and that we could have started today making the changes that I believe our country so badly needs. "I know how much the Conservative party itself and all my colleagues in Parliament and all the loyal members and activists around the country wanted that too - but I also know they wanted something more than that. "They want the best for Britain. The Conservative party has always been a party that puts the national interest first. "And the best thing - the national interest thing - the best thing for Britain now is a new government that works together in that national interest and I hope with all my heart that is something that we can achieve. "That is all I have to say for now - I hope you will understand that I won't be taking questions but this urgent work must begin."