New programme from new government

The Queen's speech last month set out the new coalition government's priorities for legislation for the next 18 months of the new Parliament.

It is a bold and radical programme for change to start to remedy the legacy from 13 years of Labour.

Top of the list is the need to cut the deficit so that public spending can be restored to a scale the country can afford. Labour's spending spree was such that the interest bill on the national debt will be some £70bn a year by the end of this Parliament - more than £1,000 a year for every man, woman and child in the country.

Taxpayers under Labour's plans would be paying more to service the national debt than we currently spend on education, transport and climate change combined.

The Budget on 22nd June will lay out the steps the Government proposes to get this under control.

We made a start last week by publishing online all items of government spending over £25,000 since January 2008. Bringing this transparency to public spending I believe will have a profound impact on both the accountability of how taxpayers money is spent but also crucially how wisely. Put bluntly it will make bureaucrats and politicians think more carefully whether they can justify the cost before they commit to spend your money.

This week we introduced legislation to scrap Identity Cards, a major step towards rolling back the levers of state introduced by Labour's increasingly authoritarian approach to civil liberties.

The new Government is getting on quickly in introducing change to the way Britain has been run.