A month ago I stood here as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and I made a very simple promise to the British people, I made a promise to negotiate in good faith with opposition parties in the national interest with an aim to creating a stable majority government capable of commanding the confidence of the House. Throughout negotiations with the Liberal Democrats it became clear that a deal would not be feasible without significant u-turns on austerity and the successes of the previous coalition as well as an almost unconstitutional breakdown of Cabinet collective responsibility. It is for these reasons that I have decided that there is no way to break the parliamentary impasse presented to us. As a result of these facts I have spoken to Her Majesty the Queen and notified her of my intention to utilise the Fixed Term Parliaments Act and call for a General Election. I do not take this decision lightly but it is the decision that we must take in the national interest.

Four years ago when the coalition took office the country faced a national crisis unlike any seen since the Winter of Discontent, as Labour so eloquently put it they had spent all of your money and the nation was close to going broke. Over the course of our governance we have reduced the deficit from the irresponsible heights of £150bn, we have reduced income tax for the poorest, and we have protected key services through efficiency savings to cut down on waste. This election the British people shall be our judges and it will be they who have the power to choose between the radically hard left Labour Party with pledges of 60% tax rates and unfunded spending commitments, or proven economic credibility and deficit reduction under the Conservatives. It is time for a fresh mandate from the people, a mandate predicated on eliminating the budget deficit by 2018, of removing people living on the minimum wage from paying income tax altogether, and of holding a decisive in/out referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. I am proud of our record in government, I will be proud to tour the country over the coming weeks and months advocating the continuation of policies that have seen us getting closer to paying our way, that have seen business and consumer confidence recover, and that have seen real wages return to growth. It is up to the British people now to decide.