Question: How can you square £8 billion worth of tax cuts with a commitment to public services?

William Hague: When the economy grows, the cake gets bigger. That means you can spend more and cut taxes. Labour plans to increase spending by £71 billion over the next three years. We want to increase spending by £63 billion and cut taxes by £8 billion. Their plans and our plans both involve the same amount of new money. We have spelt out in detail where our savings will come from, none of them affects public services. We are committed to increasing spending on schools, hospitals and the police.

We need to cut taxes to keep our economy competitive. Other countries, not just the United States, but France and Germany too, are cutting taxes and so must we. For many small firms, Labour's high taxes could mean all the difference between success and failure. That means the difference between creating jobs and destroying them.

Cutting taxes will help to build a responsible society too. It is common sense that we should cut taxes to reward people who work hard and save hard, to recognise the importance of marriage and to give dignity to pensioners.

Question: You've said you're committed to increased spending in key public services - which public services could be trimmed or could face an efficiency drive?

William Hague: In every Government department we will make sure that your money works harder than ever before. We will reverse the soaring cost of Government under Labour, saving £1.8 billion. We will slim down the Department for Trade and Industry. We will reform welfare, creating a national anti-benefit fraud squad with new powers and reducing dependency, saving £2.5 billion. We will abolish regional bureaucracy, cut local government red tape and transfer housing to the voluntary sector, saving £1bn.By doing things like these, we can cut £8bn of taxes for people who have been hit the hardest by Labour's stealth taxes - like drivers, pensioners and families with young children.

Question: Labour is committed to spending £180 billion on transport over 10 years - will you be matching this commitment pound for pound? William Hague: The savings we have found in Labour's spending plans do not involve changes to the transport budget. It is important to realise that much of the funding for the Government's current plans comes from private investment - like £35 billion of money from the privatised railways.At the last election, Labour said it should be judged on its record, not its promises. On transport that record has been miserable. Labour has given Britain the most expensive petrol in Europe, hitting those who can least afford it the hardest. They inherited railways that were investing for the future, and have left our railways in chaos. They have left our roads in their worst state for twenty-four years. They promised an integrated transport system. In fact they've given us a transport system that's disintegrating fast.

Question: The public believe that privatisation of the railways system has caused a number of the current problems for the railways industry - what would you do about rail safety and Railtrack?

William Hague: We will introduce a new body to investigate train crashes and look at new ways to make the railways safer. The system for investigating plane crashes is better than the current one for the railways.

Privatisation was only ever the beginning of the Conservative programme to revitalise the rail network. That's why Labour's failure of leadership in taking the railways forward is so deplorable. Our ambition for the railways is that they should provide the same standards of passenger service and safety as the privatised airlines. We will negotiate long term rail franchises. These franchises will be linked to targets on passenger service and safety, so they reward successful companies and encourage long term investment.

Question: Labour talks about getting the private sector more involved in the public services - they've shot your fox haven't they?

William Hague: No, not at all. Only the Conservative Party has a comprehensive programme for renewing our public services, without ideological opposition to involvement from the private and voluntary sectors. For example on education, we will let charities, private companies and faith groups set up their own state-funded Partner Schools or take over failing schools. For those patients guaranteed a waiting time under our Patient's Guarantee initiative, health authorities will be obliged to either to treat patients within the guaranteed maximum waiting time or to arrange for the patient to be treated in another health authority or in a private hospital.

Question: Labour, and the Liberal Democrats, have talked about recruiting new police officers, teachers and nurses - they've actually set target figures - such as 6,000 new police officers, 10,000 new teachers and 20,000 nurses - why haven't you set figures for recruiting new staff to the public services?

William Hague: Just setting arbitrary targets by itself will not get the police we need on our streets, more nurses and doctors in our hospitals, or solve the crisis in teacher recruitment in our schools. At the moment, the Government is finding it hard to retain public servants. Morale across the public services is at an all time low because of Labour's stream of red tape, bureaucracy and interference. Since 1997, for example, schools have received over a thousand publications and regulations, including 140 circulars of guidance to teachers. People become teachers because they want to inspire young people to learn not spend their time filling in forms. We will let all our public servants get on with the jobs they were trained to do.

Question: Where do you think the issue of the euro rates with the public's concerns over health, education, crime and tax?

William Hague: We have been setting out our policies on all these issues. Yet it is essential if we are to make progress on any of them that we keep our right to govern our own affairs. Scrapping the Pound would be an historic decision. If we joined the Euro, for example, we could lose our right to set our own taxes. That would mean we would lose our right to call ourselves an independent country.

Question: You've said you want to keep the pound for this parliament - so shouldn't Conservative supporters who want to join the euro vote for another party?

William Hague: You are right that only a Conservative vote at this election is a vote to keep the Pound. But people with a whole range of viewpoints will be voting Conservative on Thursday. They will vote Conservative for a war on crime, for more police on their streets, and to make criminals serve the full sentences handed down to them in court. They will vote Conservative for choice and higher standards in their schools and hospitals and for a Government that trusts doctors, nurses and teachers and that will give them the freedom to get on with the jobs they were trained to do. They will vote Conservative because they believe that people should keep more of what they earn. They will vote Conservative because Labour has failed to deliver on even its most basic pledges.

Question: So what's your appeal to Conservatives who support the Euro?

William Hague: All Conservatives will share my clear vision of what our country can be like when it is true to itself. We want a country where people have the greatest possible personal freedom to live their own lives. We want people to be able to take responsibility for ourselves and each other rather than being dependent on the state. We also want a country that is proud of what makes us distinctive as a nation.

It is also about the style of Government. Instead of spin and political correctness, we will deliver common sense and plain speaking. I have found that approach does not just appeal to traditional Conservatives, but that it reaches out to the mainstream majority of people right across Britain.

Question: Should you win the election - could there be a place in your Government for the likes of Ken Clarke and Ian Taylor?

William Hague: I've always said that the Conservative Party needs to speak with one voice on this important issue. Members of my front bench team need to support our policy about not joining the Euro for the lifetime of the next Parliament.

Question: You've talked about the possibility of Labour winning a landslide victory - should this scenario come into play - could you foresee yourself continuing on as leader of the Conservative Party?

William Hague: It is Labour who have arrogantly been predicting a landslide. People across Britain are getting ready to prove them wrong by returning a Conservative Government.

Of course a Labour landslide would be bad for Britain. You do not need to make predictions about Thursday to know that. We have already seen how Labour have abused their large majority over the past four years. They have used the guillotine twenty-five times, which is more than the entire period of the previous Conservative Government, they have cut short debates in the House of Commons and passed badly drafted laws, and Tony Blair appointed more peers to the House of Lords than any previous Prime Minister. Under Labour, Parliament has been marginalised and abused as never before.