PM: Brown left an appalling mess

Prime Minister David Cameron has torn into Labour's record in office by claiming Gordon Brown's administration left the country in an "appalling mess".

Addressing the Commons after Tuesday morning's Queen's Speech, Mr Cameron said Labour had left the country with a deficit bigger than that in crisis-hit Greece.

In his first major speech at the Commons despatch box since becoming Prime Minister, Mr Cameron promised to "ratchet up" the pressure on Iran over the regime's nuclear ambitions.

His comments followed acting Labour leader Harriet Harman's response to the Queen's Speech from the Opposition front bench.

Mr Cameron said there was "something missing" from her speech: "Not one word of apology for the appalling mess that has been left in this country. Nothing to say about leaving Britain with a deficit that is bigger than Greece's. Not a single idea for getting to grips with it. Until they learn what they got so badly wrong I'm not sure people are going to listen to them again."

Meanwhile Harriet Harman promised "effective" opposition to the Government's legislative plans as she poured scorn on the coalition forged between Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg.

In response to the new Government's first Queen's Speech, Labour's acting leader said her party would not oppose for the sake of opposing during debate on the measures put forward by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

But she warned that neither would the opposition "pull our punches" in showing where ministers are going wrong. "The country will want to see it is not they who are left bearing the cost of holding the coalition together."

Ms Harman mocked Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg by highlighting criticisms made by them of each other's parties ahead of the General Election.

"It's the combination of the two of them that worries me," she said, to laughter. "While the happy couple are enjoying the thrill of the rose garden, the in-laws are saying they're just not right for each other. We keep telling them that you can't pay couples to stay together. It's clear it will take more than a three-quid-a-week tax break to keep this marriage together."