File photo
Birmingham:
Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday urged Britain to work harder to rise above its economic woes, warning that it faced a sink or swim moment to avoid falling behind its global competitors.
The struggling Conservative leader used a crucial speech to his centre-right party's annual conference to warn that Britons face more austerity to get out of recession and cut a huge deficit.
But Mr Cameron, who is behind in the opinion polls midway through his coalition government's five-year term, sought to reassure right wingers of his toughness and met criticisms of heartlessness by the Labour opposition head-on.
"Let's get Britain on the rise," he said to a standing ovation from activists at the conference in the industrial city of Birmingham.
"Let us here in this hall, together in this country make this pledge -- let's build an aspiration nation."
Mr Cameron's speech was billed as a make or break moment for his leadership, with divisions in the party over issues such as Europe and abortion, and his popularity ratings dipping.
He also faces a challenge from resurgent Labour leader Ed Miliband, who in his own conference speech last week tried to usurp the Conservatives' traditional slogan as the "one nation" party.
The prime minister gave a sober warning of the challenges facing the world's seventh largest economy.
"Unless we act, unless we take difficult, painful decisions, unless we show determination and imagination, Britain may not be in the future what it has been in the past," he said.
"Because the truth is this. We're in a global race today, and that means an hour of reckoning for countries like ours. Sink or swim, do or decline."
But he said Britain could still "win in the tough world of today" if it followed the example of China and emerging nations such as India and Brazil and makes a less "fat, sclerotic" economy.
Mr Cameron warned of cuts to the welfare system, including housing benefit, saying that recovery would build on "hard work, strong families, taking responsibility and serving others."
But he rejected claims that the party formerly led by "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher was moving further to the right, and tried to set out a vision of a "compassionate" conservatism.
The Conservative leader struck an unusually personal note, becoming visibly emotional when he spoke of his disabled son Ivan, who died in 2009 at the age of six.
The struggling Conservative leader used a crucial speech to his centre-right party's annual conference to warn that Britons face more austerity to get out of recession and cut a huge deficit.
But Mr Cameron, who is behind in the opinion polls midway through his coalition government's five-year term, sought to reassure right wingers of his toughness and met criticisms of heartlessness by the Labour opposition head-on.
"Let's get Britain on the rise," he said to a standing ovation from activists at the conference in the industrial city of Birmingham.
"Let us here in this hall, together in this country make this pledge -- let's build an aspiration nation."
Mr Cameron's speech was billed as a make or break moment for his leadership, with divisions in the party over issues such as Europe and abortion, and his popularity ratings dipping.
He also faces a challenge from resurgent Labour leader Ed Miliband, who in his own conference speech last week tried to usurp the Conservatives' traditional slogan as the "one nation" party.
The prime minister gave a sober warning of the challenges facing the world's seventh largest economy.
"Unless we act, unless we take difficult, painful decisions, unless we show determination and imagination, Britain may not be in the future what it has been in the past," he said.
"Because the truth is this. We're in a global race today, and that means an hour of reckoning for countries like ours. Sink or swim, do or decline."
But he said Britain could still "win in the tough world of today" if it followed the example of China and emerging nations such as India and Brazil and makes a less "fat, sclerotic" economy.
Mr Cameron warned of cuts to the welfare system, including housing benefit, saying that recovery would build on "hard work, strong families, taking responsibility and serving others."
But he rejected claims that the party formerly led by "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher was moving further to the right, and tried to set out a vision of a "compassionate" conservatism.
The Conservative leader struck an unusually personal note, becoming visibly emotional when he spoke of his disabled son Ivan, who died in 2009 at the age of six.
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