Tory leader David Cameron has said his party is committed to helping people cope with the rising cost of living and the impact of the credit crunch.

Addressing his party conference in Birmingham, Mr Cameron said the Tories were united and had a clear plan to deal with the economic turmoil.

In the party's reconstruction plan, the Tories set out proposals for an independent body to monitor state spending and a beefed-up role for the Bank of England in overseeing the financial sector.

On the opening day of the party's conference, Mr Cameron said: "I have said to the shadow cabinet everything we do has got to be about trying to help people with the cost of living, helping them with the difficulties that they face."

Other ideas set out in the Tory economic reconstruction plan include a fuel duty stabiliser to help even out the effects of rising oil prices.

Mr Cameron was addressing the conference as part of a discussion on the economy, a late change to the agenda to address the chaos in the world's markets.

The Tory leader contrasted his party with the disunity at the top of the Government.

He told the conference: "I want us to show that, at a time when the Government has completely lost its way, that there is a very clear, a very strong, a very united and a very positive alternative - the modern Conservative Party."

Labour, he said, had spent their conference last week "talking about themselves to themselves".

The Tories would be able to "spend all of our time talking about the problems people face in our country and the changes we want to make as a party and, if elected, as a Government".

Mr Cameron said it was important for the party to avoid becoming complacent because "we have to win so many people's trust about how we will be able to take this country forward".

He said: "We are meeting at a time of great economic difficulty and a time of huge anxiety."

In a foreword to the Tory economic plan, written jointly with shadow chancellor George Osborne, Mr Cameron said "the Brown bubble has burst".

He wrote: "This is not just the failure of individual Government ministers. It is the failure of an entire economic approach."

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