In 2009 we said goodbye to Harry Patch, the last survivor of the generation of soldiers who risked their lives for Britain in the Great War. As we mourned him, we remembered too all those who have laid down their lives in the defence of this country we love.

Last year was particularly tough for our forces in Afghanistan, and we face some more difficult months ahead. In late December we were reminded at this decade’s end, just as we were at its beginning, that there is a terrorist threat which puts our safety and security at risk and which requires us to take on al Qaeda and the Taliban at the epicentre of global terrorism - which is the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

And while progress is difficult, I am working every day and will continue to step up our efforts with no let-up to disrupt the ability of terrorists to mount attacks on Britain, and to work with other countries to prevent terrorism on our streets. This will have my relentless focus in 2010, just as Afghanistan will have. We will steadily be giving more control of Afghanistan to Afghan troops and police.

As we enter a new decade, I will continue to do what is necessary to protect and improve this great country in the interests of all the people of Britain.

In my life, I have learnt that there are only really two kinds of people - those who think things can never change, and those who believe they have to. And I think the vast majority of people are in the second camp. We are a nation that looks to the future, combining responsibility with fairness, compassion with aspiration - always reaching higher, dreaming bigger, aiming for even greater things.

There are some who say we must plan for a decade of austerity. If that happened it would also be a decade of unfairness where, while the privileged few can protect themselves, the majority lose out. I believe we can create a new decade of prosperity with opportunities fairly shared amongst all those who work hard and play by the rules. That is why we are fighting so hard to secure and sustain Britain’s recovery.

The last 18 months have been difficult, and too many people were hit by a crisis that originated in the US housing market and then came rolling across the Atlantic towards us - a crisis that hit Britain hard because the financial sector is such an important part of our economy. But this is a nation of fighters and believers who meet each challenge with strength and sacrifice. We fought back against recession because we stood together and did not leave people isolated to face a difficult future on their own.

Britain has learnt the bitter lessons of previous recessions - and that’s why this Government was not prepared to see whole communities decimated by worklessness, with towns losing not just their incomes but their identities. We were not willing to lose a generation of young people to unemployment, with their hopes shattered even before their life’s journey had begun. And we were not going to tolerate decent people doing an honest days work losing their businesses and their family homes because it was impossible for them to make ends meet. And so we chose to intervene and not pass on by - and if the experience of the last recession had been repeated, people’s chances of having a job would have been four times worse after they became unemployed, repossessions twice as bad and company insolvencies two and a half times worse.

The decisions taken by Alistair Darling and all the ministers of this Government have meant that we have already seen off the worst of the recession. There is no denying it has been painful for some - and there are still tough times ahead.

But we can be incredibly proud that Britain’s dynamic entrepreneurs have defied the recession to start up nearly half a million new businesses. There are now three million British businesses - more than at any point since records of this began in the 1980s, and fewer businesses closed in 2009 than in 2008.

And I am confident that if we continue with the tough decisions we have made, unemployment will start to drop this year, and more small businesses will open and flourish.

That wasn’t inevitable; it was the change we chose. And so my message today is simple; don’t wreck the recovery. The recovery is still fragile, and it needs to be nurtured in the interests of those who were hit hardest by the recession - the people on middle and modest incomes who don’t want any special favours - they simply want a bit of help to own their own home, set up their own businesses and give their children the best start in life.

Because everyone who is willing to work hard and aim high deserves a fair shot at meeting their aspirations. My whole life in politics has been about trying to provide a ladder of opportunity, so that what matters is not where you come from but what you have to contribute. And that is the vision that will guide this Government in the tough decisions ahead.

So let me talk to you about my key priorities for the coming year - about how we will secure the recovery and make the new decisions of this new decade. My first priority is securing that recovery. The second is radical improvement and reform of our public services, protecting frontline spending on schools, hospitals and the police. The third is a new, cleaned up politics. And the fourth is maintaining Britain’s global strength and fulfilling our responsibilities against the terrorist threat in Afghanistan and across the wider world.

Even as we take the tough decisions to halve the deficit, we can still invest in Britain’s future. I say this because Britain is too great a country with so much potential - and people with such high aspirations - that in the coming decade we must not settle for anything less than big ambitions.

We are determined to reduce the deficit at a responsible pace, without choking off the recovery or damaging the frontline services the mainstream majority rely on. And so our strategy is to go for growth, because we want to build our country up, not talk Britain down. Later this week we will be publishing the first part of our prosperity plan for a successful, fairer and more responsible Britain: a plan detailing how we will invest in the industries and jobs of the future. From high speed rail to aerospace to the digital economy to clean energy to advanced manufacturing. 2010 is when we will get Britain moving forward again.

And we will continue our relentless reform of public services to ensure they always deliver the best for you and your family- not uniform services, but personal services, tailored to your need and your aspirations. So whether creating a national care service for the elderly, giving a guarantee of early cancer diagnosis or driving up standards in primary schools with more one-to-one tuition and compulsory modern languages, we will always ensure you get the individual, excellent services you need to make the most of life.

And I know that those who work hard each and every day for everything they get were rightly appalled at some of the abuse of MPs’ expenses. So I am determined that this year we will renew faith in our democracy with constitutional reform.

And we can all be proud that at the G20 Britain was able to negotiate a worldwide deal that secured British jobs. That was a direct result of the Government choosing internationalism over isolationism - and it is this strategy that means we are also able to cooperate with President Obama on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, and with our European neighbours and others on defeating catastrophic climate change.

So those are my priorities. My belief is that this is going to be a great decade for a great nation. If we continue to make the right decisions to unleash all the talent that is to be found in these islands, we have much to look forward to - and you and your families have my warm best wishes for the year ahead.