The prime minister says his government has spent a "huge amount" on flood defences in the past three years. Ministers are "marshalling the full machinery of government" to help with the recovery and clean-up but will also review the level of protection in areas such as Cumbria. They will sit down with the Environment Agency to "look at the flood schemes that have been built, to look at the ones that have been planned, look at the level of rainfall and flooding there was and ask what more we can do".

Asked whether he would make a decision on Heathrow expansion before the end of the year, as previously expected, Mr Cameron is non-committal, saying the cabinet will be discussing the issue shortly and he hopes to make "some progress".  

The Daily Politics

The Daily Politics

On the question of the floods in the north east of England, Mr Cameron praises the actions of the emergency services but says this was an occasion when the sheer level of rainfall was hard to guard against. The PM, who is heading to Cumbria later, goes on to mention some of the assistance available to homeowners and business under the Bellwin flood assistance scheme. 

David Cameron is now taking questions from the media. Asked about Saturday's stabbing at Leytonestone station in east London, Mr Cameron praises the response of the police to the incident but says he believes that officers should not be "routinely armed". He also commends the passerby who said "you ain't no Muslim bruv" - a response that went viral on social media. Mr Cameron says that this comment summed things up better than any speech, and would be "applauded right across the country".

Reaching the end of his speech, the PM says it is not good enough for government to "stand still" and his goal over the next five years is "for renewal as much as delivery", giving the British people the "brighter future" that they were promised at the election. 

The PM moves on to health, defending the government's plans for a seven day NHS, insisting that it will benefit the public but not at the expense of patient safety, making clear that no medical staff will have to work seven days in a row without breaks. He also pledges to tackle the "root causes" of poverty, through major reforms to the penal system and increased help for troubled families. 

The government is embarked upon a "fundamental re-ordering" of the welfare system, the PM says, focused on building a low-welfare, low-tax and high-pay economy. He says tax credits will gradually be phased out as Universal Credit comes in and that the national living wage will be introduced next year, confirming that the wage it has been enshrined on Monday into law through secondary legislation. 

On childcare, the PM says plans to double the amount of free childcare available to working parents of three and four years olds to 30 hours will go ahead as planned from 2017 but that 5,000 families will benefit from its early rollout next year. 

On housing, the prime minister says that 11,000 social tenants have registered to buy their Housing Association properties since the plans were outlined in May. He also talks about the government's aspiration to create "generation buy" by "ripping up" the restrictions on shared ownership - claiming an extra 175,000 people will become eligible for part-rent, part-buy schemes from next year. 

The prime minister moves on to jobs and apprenticeships, saying the public sector should do more on skills and training and that apprentices should henceforth account for 2.3% of the total workforce in the police, councils and other public sector bodies. 

David Cameron says he wants to "make the ambition of local councils running schools a thing of the past", as he talks up the revolution that he says has spread through the school system through the setting up of new free schools and the extension of academies. Measures to force coasting schools to improve will be extended to academies, he adds, insisting the "dangerous tolerance of mediocrity" must be tackled and schools must realise that "just enough is not good enough" for children who only get once chance. 

An election manifesto should be a "checklist not a wishlist", Mr Cameron says. As well as spelling out how the government is living up to its promises, the prime minister says he will talk about how it is also turning old assumptions and approaches "on their heads", such as the need to spend more to get more from public services and that giving councils more control over schools is the way to improve educational standards. 

David Cameron has begun his speech in the West Midlands, saying it is seven months to the day since the Tories' general election victory and he wants to set out the progress he is making on fulfilling the party's manifesto commitments to provide "opportunity and security" to people at every stage of their lives.  

The Daily Politics

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron has said a "clear direction" on whether to expand Heathrow Airport will be give by the end of the year. A decision, rather than direction, has been expected, as picked up on by the FT's Jim Pickard:

Norman Smith
Assistant political editor

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to seek emergency European Union funding to help communities hit by the flooding.

The EU Solidarity Fund -  with a budget of up to £359 million a year - was set up to provide financial assistance to EU countries struck by major natural disasters.

When the 2007 floods hit, the UK was granted £134 million from the fund.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron says: "This funding could provide a lifeline for local authorities, helping them pay for clean-up costs and rebuilding vital infrastructure. It would be wrong to turn it down for political reasons."