Prime Minister David Cameron promised a "better time ahead" as he acknowledged this morning that families are suffering difficult times due to the uncertain economic situation.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Cameron said the Government is taking action where it can to help keep families' bills down, citing Chancellor George Osborne's announcement yesterday of a one-year council tax freeze.
But he insisted that he would stick to the deficit reduction package of cuts and tax rises, warning that interest rates would rise if the international money markets lost confidence that Britain was paying off its debts.
The Prime Minister told ITV1's Daybreak: "The whole message of this conference is that we know things are difficult, we know families face difficult times right now, but we have got to show the leadership to make the right decisions and get us through this difficult time and get to a better time ahead."
Mr Cameron said: "I completely understand that families today do see the prices at the petrol pump high, food prices have gone up. Many people, particularly in the public sector, have had their pay frozen.
"I understand the difficulty people are going through, so the council tax freeze is helpful because that is one bill that is not going up.
"All the time, we are looking to see is there spare money we can use to help Britain's families get through what is a difficult time."
