The rise in world oil prices has been larger than anyone forecast.

We are pretty tough in saying for example if you've got unsecured debts and less than £25,000 that should not be an excuse for repossessing someone's home.That should not be allowed.You have got to help manage people through this process. I don't want to pretend that it is going to be easy getting out of Gordon Brown's hole.

Establishing proper economic governance that allows the Eurozone to undertake the integration it needs whilst protecting the interests of the single market for all 28, the rights of member states who are not in the Euro - including of course the UK - is really important for the future of the European Union.

What makes people angry and we are on the side of hard-working people who want to get on in life and they see how government is wasting their money.

You cannot tackle Britain's debts without tackling the unreformed welfare system.

I am actually quite encouraged and I think, actually, the UK is coping with globalisation a lot better than most other European countries. And that is reflected in the fact that (whilst of course there are people who are still unemployed) our unemployment rate is low and (whilst of course we need to export more) we are attracting a huge amount of inward investment into Britain.

Of all the public services, education is the one I'm most interested in. You get a more dynamic economy, you deal with most social problems, and it's morally right.