In a speech to the Conservative Councillors’ Association today David Cameron will outline his plans for local government.

The Conservatives will give more power, discretion and autonomy to local councils, but greater power must be backed up with greater accountability to local taxpayers. Under Conservative plans councils will be require to publish online:

• The full remuneration package of all senior staff, earning above £58,500, including name and post.
• All items of expenditure above £500, and publish contracts and tender documents in full.
• Information on councillors’ expenses in open and standardised format so the public can compare councillor expenses across the country.

Bellow are some key extracts from David Cameron’s speech:

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We come together with less than 70 days to go before the most important election we have known for a generation.

Less than 70 days before we decide our country’s future for the next generation.

And today I am going to talk to you quite plainly and soberly about the choice we face at this election.

For it is a choice.

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Tomorrow George Osborne will unleash the wrath of Ronald Reagan in a damning critique of Labour economic policy.

Speaking at the Mais lecture at the Cass Business School the shadow chancellor will echoing Reagan’s 1980 pre-election question to voters: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

He will tell the audience: “Labour’s 2005 manifesto promised ‘increased prosperity’. That is the biggest broken promise of all. Even through the dark days of the 1970s and the recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s the growth of GDP per capita was sustained in every full Parliament.

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As we hurtle towards the general election it appear that a day doesn’t go by now without a key business leader or hugely influential economist coming out and pours scorn of the governments economic policy.

The latest is none other than Sir Richard Branson, who in an interview this morning, saying “I believe the UK’s record budget deficit does pose a serious risk to our recovery. It would be deeply damaging to Britain if we lost the confidence of the global financial markets through delayed action and saw interest rates have to go up steeply.” continue reading

After the last couple of days, in which CCHQ have done their best to to muddy the waters when it comes to Conservative economy policy, George Osborne today got onto the front foot.

The Shadow Chancellor has published eight benchmarks that he want the general public to judge him and his team by, if they win power on May 6.

Describing his benchmarks as the foundation of a ‘new economic model for Britain’ they will create the growth needed. In a nod to the important role the City has in generating growth and keeping the economy moving he said that sustained growth will not be achieved if policy centers around trashing the competitiveness of the City.

Mr Osborne’s the benchmarks are designed so that the British people “can judge the success or failure of their Chancellor and their government over the next Parliament. We will be accountable.” They are:

Ensure macroeconimic stability by protecting Britain’s credit rating.
Create a more balanced economy – ensuring higher exports, business investment and saving as a share of GDP
Get Britain working by reducing youth unemployment
Make Britain open for business by improving our international ranking on tax competitiveness
Ensure the whole country shares in rising prosperity – by raising the private sector’s share of the economy in all regions of the country, especially outside London and the South East.
Reform public services to deliver better value-for-money by improving productivity in the public sector
Create a safer banking system that serves the needs of the economy
Build a greener economy by reducing carbon emissions and improving our share of green technologies

Speaking at the British Museum he also said that preventing credit rating agencies downgrading the UK would be a priority for a Conservative government.

“Protecting the credit rating will not be easy. The largest bond investor in the world thinks there is an 80% chance of a downgrade. The reputational consequence of a downgrade would be pretty considerable. We don’t want to play with fire by getting downgraded.”

Launching the Conservative’s draft education manifesto in south London earlier today, David Cameron outlined a “comprehensive programme of reform to elevate the status of teaching in our country” in a bid to make teaching once again a “noble profession”.

In a bid to improve the quality of teaching, he said that state funding for post graduate teaching qualifications will only be available to those who gained a 2:2 or better from a good university.

“If you want to become a teacher – and get funding for it – you need a 2:2 or higher. And we will also make sure we get some of the best graduates into teaching by offering to pay off their student loan. As long as you’ve got a first or 2:1 in maths or a rigorous science subject from a good university, you can apply.”

He also announced plans for a Teach Now programme which will allow people from the professions to transfer from thair chosen field such as banking, the media or law into teaching, saying “only the best professionals with the best qualifications need apply”.

Building on Michael Gove’s promise last week to give head teachers more powers, including the ability observe lessons and to fire under performing teachers, Mr Cameron said his government would strip way ‘Official Guidance’ that have “robbed” teachers of thair ability to maintain order in the classroom.

“It’s time we tilted the scales back into the favour of teachers. That’s what we will do. We’re going to say to our teachers, if you want to search for and confiscate any item you think is dangerous or disruptive- you can. If you want to remove violent children from the classroom – you can.”

But for those teachers who work longer hours and produce results in the classroom his government will make it easier for heads to pay more and also allow them to pay bonuses.

Speaking following Mr Gove’s announcement last week Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “The Tories would do well to resist going down a path which would in effect licence and endorse management bullying in schools.”

Accountability and transparency are also key to the Conservatives planned education reforms so that “so parents can hold teachers to account.”

“We will let every parent know how much their school receives to spend on their child’s education,” Mr Cameron said.

“We will combine this information with details on the academic performance of local schools and of other schools with similar intakes and levels of funding. We will give parents the accurate information they want to challenge under-performance and the freedom they need take their children elsewhere if they’re not happy,” he added.

Unsurprisingly these policies do not go down particular well with the teaching unions.

Responding to today’s announcement Mr Keates said: “The proposed ‘Teach Now’ scheme could easily be retitled the ‘anyone can teach’ scheme. Teaching is a highly skilled profession and the notion that anyone who has been successful in other professions will have what it takes to teach is just plain wrong.”

Added” “Teaching draws on particular qualities, skills and dispositions. Being a multimillionaire businessman or attending a Russell Group university doesn’t automatically make a good teacher.”

His sentiments were echoes by Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, saying the “plans give the impression that anyone can teach”.

“This policy is short-sighted at best and shows that the Tories have completely failed to understand the needs and demands of teachers and the teaching sector. We should be looking to increase the pool of potential teachers and ensuring it is people who would make the best teachers who are encouraged to apply. These plans give the impression that anyone can teach and moving into teaching is a good way for some students to write off their massive university debts.”

The Tories plans to overhaul the education system and move it into the 21 century set the party on the right course, but it’s clear that he is going to have a fight on his hand to get his reforms implemented.

Mr Cameron has already indicated that he is willing to face down trade unions when it comes to getting the deficit under control, and all the signals are that he is willing to do the same with the teaching unions.

Over the last 13 year’s unions such as the NUT, NASUWT, and the UCU have enjoyed a privileged position, the institutions they are part of have received record levels of investment with very few strings attached. At the same time Britain has slipped down may of the international education league tables, including English, maths and the sciences.

The NASUWT in particular has become increasingly militant over the last couple of year’s and has called a number of strikes throughout the country over the last 18 months.

When the National Union of Mineworkers challenged Margret Thatcher’s programme of mine closures in the 1980s, it was not just a battle over policy, but also a direct assault on her authority. If she had lost her battle with Arthur Scargill her government would have been critically wounded, like so many that capitulated to the NUM and other trade unions in the proceeding decades.

While the teaching unions may not have the power of the NUM a Cameron government should not underestimate them.

For the Tories to really revolutionise education the union’s must be confronted if they challenge his authority, especially if professionals who are not used to working in organisations constrained by union rules and regulations are to have confidence in the policy.

Two weeks after launching launching the first chapter of the Conservative manifesto, David Cameron has today turn his attention to to education as he unveiled the latest draft chapter.

He promises a “brazenly elitist” approach to recruitment teachers in a bid to make the profession a “noble profession”. Flanked by Michael Gove the party leader will outline a “comprehensive programme of reform to elevate the status of teaching in our country”.

“They are brazenly elitist – making sure only the top graduates can apply. They have turned it into the career path if you’ve got a good degree … We should be equally bold here. So we will end the current system where people with third-class degrees can get taxpayers’ money to enter postgraduate teacher training.

“With our plans, if you want to become a teacher – and get funding for it – you need a 2:2 or higher. And we will also make sure we get some of the best graduates into teaching by offering to pay off their student loan. As long as you’ve got a first or 2:1 in maths or a rigorous science subject from a good university, you can apply.”

David Cameron says that Britain should be “equally bold” as our international counterparts and will propose the following measures:

* Only those with a 2:2 degree or higher will get funding for postgraduate teacher training;

* Anyone with a first or 2:1 in maths or a rigorous science degree who wants to teach can apply to have their student loan paid off;

* Anyone seeking to teach in primary schools should have at least a B in English and Maths at GCSE – not a C as at present;

* The establishment of Teach Now, a one-stop-shop for professional people who want to transfer into teaching, which would fast-track them into schools.

Speaking at a London school, Mr Cameron said that teachers pay should be a “reflection of how well they’ve done and how hard they’ve worked”.

He said: “We need much greater flexibility than currently exists – flexibility over rewarding the best and yes, getting rid of the worst. So we will free schools to pay good teachers more. With our plans, head teachers will have the power to use their budgets to pay bonuses to the best teachers.

And because the evidence shows that schools that have the greatest impact in poorer areas are the ones that extend their hours into evenings and weekends, we will also give them the flexibility to reward teachers for longer hours”.

Highlighting his willingness to give teachers more powers so they can regain the authority they need to maintain discipline, he said he would strip way ‘Official Guidance’ that have “robbed” teachers of thair ability to maintain order in the classroom.

“It’s time we tilted the scales back into the favour of teachers. That’s what we will do. We’re going to say to our teachers, if you want to search for and confiscate any item you think is dangerous or disruptive- you can. If you want to remove violent children from the classroom – you can.

“And if you want protection from false allegations of abuse that wreck lives and wreck careers – we’ll make sure you have it,” he said.

Accountability and transparency are also key to the Conservatives planned education reforms so that “so parents can hold teachers to account.”

“We will let every parent know how much their school receives to spend on their child’s education,” Mr Cameron said.

We will combine this information with details on the academic performance of local schools and of other schools with similar intakes and levels of funding. We will give parents the accurate information they want to challenge under-performance and the freedom they need take their children elsewhere if they’re not happy, ” he added.

The draft education chapter of the Conservative manifesto has now been published and can be downloaded here.

In a cynical move Gordon Brown has attempted to draw a line under accusations he has been stoking a class war with a direct appeal to the “mainstream majority” of Britain and that middle class voters face a Tory “squeeze.

In a pre-election campaign speech in central London he pledged to put “social mobility” at the top of his agenda and to create more middle class jobs than ever before.

Speaking to the Fabian Society Mr Brown said that these Conservative plans to get the deficit under control would betray the middle classes.

“A fair society is one where everyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a chance to fulfil their dreams whether that’s owning a bigger house, taking a holiday abroad, buying a new car or starting a small business,” he said.

“And this is the next project for New Labour, our next generation project… The coming decade will provide the UK with more middle class jobs than ever before.”

Responding to the the prime minister’s speech Philip Hammond, Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said the notion that Mr Brown could be the champion of the middle classes was “laughable”.

“One minute Gordon Brown’s a class warrior, the next he is a friend of middle Britain,” Mr Hammond said.

“Middle Britain won’t forget that it was Gordon Brown who destroyed their pensions, increased their taxes and crippled social mobility.”

For the first time George Osborne has said that Whitehall departments will have to start making cuts almost straight away, should the Conservatives win the coming general election.

David Cameron’s shadow treasury team have already said that an emergency budget will be implemented within the first 50 day’s of a Tory administration taking office, but the shadow chancellor’s intervention is the first public announcement regarding in-year cuts.

Speaking at the London School of Economics on Thursday night he said: “The message could not be clearer – if you find yourself on the wrong road, you take the first available exit instead of carrying on.

“With the date of the general election increasingly likely to be after the beginning of the next financial year, that means we will need to make early in-year reductions in existing plans.”

The Tories plans are is sharp contrast to those of Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling who are refusing look again at their spending commitments in a effort to paying down the record £178 billion deficit.

“Programmes that represent poor value for money, excessive spending on things like advertising and consultants, spending on tax credits for people earning over £50,000, and spending on Child Trust Funds for better off families will all have to be cut during the financial year,” he said.

The Treasury has already set departmental budgets for 2010-2011 which will see spending increase from £676 billion this year to £707 billion next year.

Highlighting the risk arising from the governments continuing refusal to introduce in-year cuts Mr Osborne said: “There is a clear and present danger that the world will lose confidence in Britain’s economic policy. That would push mortgage rates up, more businesses would go bust and the recovery would be undermined.”

Adding: “Total spending is planned to go up by £31 billion in nominal terms, or by more than 2 per cent in real terms. During a period when the Treasury expects the economy to be growing by at least 2 per cent, and with the largest budget deficit of any developed economy, that is simply not credible.

“Everyone knows that the Government’s spending plans for next year are driven by a looming general election and not economic reality.”

Mr Osborne also confirmed the his his policy of introducing a pay freeze for all public sector worker’s who earn more than £18,000 would not take effect until 2011.

Appearing on the Andrew Marr Show this morning David Cameron outlined three measures to help small businesses: