PM: 'We are on right track'

David Cameron today tries to fend off criticism of his leadership from inside his party by insisting the coalition is a "government in a hurry" as he reassures voters the economy is on the "right track" to recovery.

In a new-year video message, the Prime Minister says people should be "optimistic" about what the Government is doing because it is making "tangible progress" on education, welfare, state pensions and income-tax cuts for the lowest earners.

Mr Cameron is under increasing pressure from the Conservative Party over Europe and gay marriage. The Prime Minister says "To anyone starting this new year with questions about where we are heading, I want to reassure you: we are on the right track. On all the big issues we are heading in the right direction. This is, quite simply, a government in a hurry."

But the Ukip leader Nigel Farage, in his new-year address, reminded the PM that Ukip's poll rating of 14 per cent at the end of the year showed voters were turning away from the Tories.