Britain wants the single currency to be a success. It is massively in our interests that we have a stable financial system on our doorstep.

Britain is not part of the single currency. That is a decision we have taken, a voluntary decision of this country, but as a result are part of a European Union 19 of whose members are rapidly integrating, creating political, fiscal, monetary, economic union to make their currency work. And that is increasingly rubbing up against the operation.

I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it's within the tax laws, so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don't think that's right.

We will also target tax evasion and off-shore tax havens... Everyone must pay their share.

If we don't get a grip on government spending, there will be no growth.

What I'm interested in is Britain projecting itself abroad, and through that its values and the things it holds dear. And I don't think you do that by refusing to talk to the world's second-largest economy [China]. In fact, that is positively counter-productive in my view.

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