It is national parliaments, which are, and will remain, the true source of real democratic legitimacy and accountability in the EU.

If you can work and if you're offered a job and you don't take it, you cannot continue to claim benefits. It will be extremely tough.

Today the main, over-riding purpose of the European Union is different: not to win peace, but to secure prosperity.

Competitiveness demands flexibility, choice and openness - or Europe will fetch up in a no-man's land between the rising economies of Asia and market-driven North America.

I mean, I'm a conservative. I believe that, you know, if you borrow too much, you just build up debts for your children to pay off. You put pressure on interest rates. You put at risk your economy. That's the case in Britain. We're not a reserve currency, so we need to get on and deal with this issue.

The well of public opinion has been well and truly poisoned by the Iraq episode.

I want to be the voice of change and hope. I want to confront the big challenges this country faces.