Howard derides PM, accusing him of stealing Tory policies

Michael Howard accused Tony Blair of delivering no more than "fizzy rhetoric" as he challenged the Government to keep its promises to the public.

Michael Howard accused Tony Blair of delivering no more than "fizzy rhetoric" as he challenged the Government to keep its promises to the public.

The Conservative leader taunted the Prime Minister over his election undertakings, insisting that he had found it impossible to keep just five manifesto commitments in Labour's first two terms.

"For your third term there are 274. I suppose you hope people won't notice when you break them," he told MPs. "All we have had so far is more fizzy rhetoric. What matters now is delivery. It is time to reward people who do the right thing, the people who play by the rules, work hard and take responsibility for themselves and their families.

"It is time to restore respect in our society, to tackle the yob culture head-on, to restore discipline at schools and to make sure punishment fits the crime."

He told Mr Blair: "You talk about these things. For the sake of our country, I hope your actions will finally match your words. If they do we will support you."

Mr Howard said that the Prime Minister had played down the prospect of tax rises during the election campaign. He said: "So there we have it. No increase in national insurance. No new stealth taxes. No raising of taxes at all. We shall not forget those promises. We shall hold the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer personally responsible for each and every one of them." Mr Howard mocked Mr Blair, likening the Queen's Speech to the Tory election manifesto. "The day after the election, the Prime Minister set out his priorities. The priorities which are meant to be reflected in the programme before us today; controlled immigration, school discipline, cleaner hospitals, police. They sound rather familiar to me. In fact it's almost the complete set," he said.

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, attacked the Government's "illiberal" agenda. "There is a fundamental party political but also political need for the liberal voice to be heard on the issues of the day.Mr Kennedy said that his party would retain its "consistent and principled opposition" to identity cards and added that he hoped to establish an all-party consensus on the anti-terror Bill.

He said: "We have been through a lot of these arguments before and we look forward, particularly - with the reduced majority in this House - [to] replaying some of these arguments again.

"Key decisions of individual liberty should never be in the hands of an over-mighty executive but should be within judicial control."