I still do. But the public voted otherwise last night. Earlier today, I rang David Cameron to congratulate him.

I take absolute and total responsibility for the result and our defeat at this election. I am so sorry for all of my colleagues who lost their seats: Ed Balls, Jim Murphy, Margaret Curran, Douglas Alexander and all our MPs and candidates who were defeated. They are friends, colleagues and standard-bearers for our party. They always have been and always will be.

I want to thank those people who ran our campaign. It was the most united, cohesive and enjoyable campaign I have ever been involved in. I want to thank Douglas Alexander, Lucy Powell and Spencer Livermore, and the incredible team of people in the Labour party. And, all of you, the incredible team of Labour party members, activists and others.

Britain needs a strong Labour party. Britain needs a Labour party that can rebuild after this defeat so we can have a government that stands up for working people again.

Now it is time for someone else to take forward the leadership of this party. So I am tendering my resignation taking effect after this afternoon’s commemoration of VE day at the Cenotaph.

I want to do so straight away because the party needs to have an open and honest debate about the right way forward, without constraint.

Let me say that Harriet Harman is the best deputy leader anyone could hope for. I worked for her more than twenty years ago. I am proud to have had her as my deputy for the term of my leadership. She will take over until a new leader is elected.

For me, I am looking forward to re-acquainting myself with Justine and my sons, Daniel and Sam. Before I do, I want to say a few things.

First of all, thank you to the British people.

Thank you to the people who met me on train stations, in colleges, in workplaces, in schools. Thank you for sharing your stories with me. I have learnt so much from you. It has been an enormous privilege. Thank you for the selfies. Thank you for the support. And thank you too for the most unlikely cult of the 21st century with #Milifandom.

Second, I want to address those who voted Labour. Today you may feel disappointed, even bleak but while we may have lost the election the argument of our campaign will not go away.

This issue of our unequal country will not go away. This is the challenge of our time. The fight goes on.

Whoever is our new leader, I know Labour will keep making the case for a country that works for working people.

Third, I believe in our United Kingdom. Not just because it is our country but because it is the best way of serving the working people of our country.

I believe there is more that unites us than divides us.

And all of us in the months and years ahead must rise to the challenge

Finally, I want to say something to my party. Thank you to you. Thank you for the privilege. I joined this party aged 17. I never dreamed I would lead it. It has been an incredible force for progress: from workers rights to the NHS to the minimum wage. No other party can boast these achievements, and it will be a force for progress and change again.

To all the Labour party members, you are the most loyal, supportive, incredible people. I think of all of you today. I am truly sorry I did not succeed. I have done my best for nearly five years. Now you need to show your responsibility. Your responsibility not simply to mourn our defeat but to pick yourself up and continue the fight.

I say this to everyone in our party: Conduct this leadership election with the same decency, civility and comradeship that we believe is the way the country should be run. I believe I have brought a culture to this party of an ability to have disagreement without being disagreeable. Please keep this in mind in the months ahead.

Finally, I want to say this. The course of progress and social justice is never simple or straightforward. Change happens because people don’t give up. They don’t take no for answer. They keep demanding change. This is my faith. When we see injustice we must tackle it.

In a couple of hours, I will no longer be leading this party, but for me that has never been the only way to achieve change. I believe it isn’t simply leaders who achieve change, it is people that make change happen.

I will never give up on that idea.

I will never give up on that cause

I will never give up on fighting for the Britain I believe in.

That faith will always be my faith.

That fight will always be my fight

That cause will always be my cause.

And I will always be there in that cause with all of you.

There is no greater symbol of an economy that doesn’t work for many people than zero-hours contracts. Lots of people reading this will know someone on a zero-hours contract — you might be on one yourself.

We have an epidemic of zero-hours contracts in our country. There has been a 20 per cent increase in the last year alone.

This leaves people without a reliable income. If you don’t know from one day to the next how much work will be coming in, you can’t plan ahead.

To anyone whose sons and daughters are on a zero-hours contracts, and to anyone trying to raise a family on a zero-hours contract, I say this:

You shouldn’t be left at the beck and call of an employer who can ask the world of you, but gives you no security in return.

It’s not fair, it’s not good for businesses, and we’ll put a stop to it.

We have seen today there is a big choice in this election. I believe it is when working families succeed that Britain succeeds. The Conservatives believe by looking after a few big firms and individuals at the top, everyone else will be OK. They won’t end the exploitation of zero-hours contracts. Labour will.

Less than a week ago we heard David Cameron say that he couldn’t live on a zero-hours contract. He’s right. I couldn’t either. But if it’s not good enough for us, it’s not good enough for you.

The next Labour government will ban zero-hours contracts for employees who are in practice working regular hours. This new legal right to a regular contract will apply to workers after just 12 weeks.

So, here’s my promise to you: if you work regular hours for three months, Labour will give you a legal right to a regular contract, not a zero-hours contract.​

All five pledges are founded on a single idea: the belief that Britain succeeds only when working people succeed.

This idea is at the heart of our campaign, the case we will make to the British people over the next eight weeks, and the way we will govern.

It offers a different vision for Britain’s future than the tired, failing plan of this government which believes only a few need to succeed.

If you agree that our country’s success must be shared among all of us, read on.

MY FIRST PLEDGE TO BRITAIN:
A STRONG ECONOMIC FOUNDATION

We must start with our economy. A Labour government will build sound economic foundations for Britain: we will cut the deficit every year and we will balance the books.

We will bring down the deficit, but we’ll do it in a fair way — including reversing David Cameron’s tax cut for millionaires — because we believe that those with the broadest shoulders must bear the greatest burden.

Every policy we have announced is fully costed — and none of our manifesto commitments rely on any additional borrowing. Not a single one.

MY SECOND PLEDGE TO BRITAIN:
HIGHER LIVING STANDARDS
FOR WORKING FAMILIES

While our economy may at last be growing again, the vital link between the wealth of our nation as a whole and the wealth of working people has been broken.

This is what I mean when I say that Britain succeeds only when working people succeed.

Because on this, the most important measure of our nation’s success, this government has overwhelmingly failed.

With a Labour government, improving the living standards of working people will be our priority. The test of my government will be whether it stands up for the working families of Britain against powerful interests. In the next five years:

• We will write the next chapter in the fight against low pay. The minimum wage has gone up by just 70p in the last five years. With Labour, it will increase to over £8 an hour.

• We will ban exploitative zero-hours contracts, legislating for a new principle: if you work regular hours you will get a regular contract.

• We will help parents balance work and family life with 25 hours of free childcare for working parents of three- and four-year-olds.

And finally, we will take action on energy bills.

For years now, families have been ripped off by the big six energy firms. That’s why we will freeze energy bills until 2017, which means they can only fall and cannot rise. But we will go further.

As soon as we take office we will give the energy regulator the power to ensure wholesale price reductions are passed on to Britain’s businesses and families — and we will insist that they act this winter so that falling wholesale prices will be passed on‎ in reduced prices to us, their customers.

MY THIRD PLEDGE TO BRITAIN:
AN NHS WITH THE TIME TO CARE

The NHS is the bedrock of security for working people in this country. You can trust us to protect it but we will do more than just protect it. We will improve the NHS, making it fit for the health and care needs of every person in this country — from cradle to grave, and from home to hospital too.

To do this, we must ease the burden on our brilliant but woefully under-resourced NHS staff. We will make sure the NHS gets more doctors, more nurses, more care workers and more midwives. A mansion tax will support a new “Time To Care” fund, so that those who look after us aren’t rushed off their feet.

We need to rescue the NHS from this government — and we will.

MY FOURTH PLEDGE TO BRITAIN:
CONTROLS ON IMMIGRATION

Our guiding mission is the interests of working people. Which is why we need controls on immigration — new rules in place that see that entitlements are earned and wages are not undercut. With a Labour government people that come here will have to wait at least two years until they can claim benefits and we will call time on employers who don’t pay the minimum wage, gangmasters that exploit migrant labour, and recruitment agencies that only advertise abroad.

With a Labour government no dodgy firm, no shady loopholes, no sharp practices will be allowed to exploit migrant labour and undercut the wages and conditions of working people.

The next Labour government will put in place the right rules on immigration. But we will never cut ourselves off from the rest of the world, and we will never sacrifice our tolerance or our openness, the values that define who we are as a country.

MY FINAL PLEDGE TO BRITAIN:
A COUNTRY WHERE THE NEXT GENERATION CAN DO BETTER THAN THE LAST

When our young people believe they’re going to have a worse life than their parents, our country is not succeeding.

So as we change our economy, we will give a better future to every young person in Britain.

We will cap class sizes at 30 for 5, 6, and 7 year olds. If you get the grades at 18, we will guarantee you an apprenticeship. If you choose university, we will cut your tuition fees — from £9,000 to £6,000.

With Labour, every young person will get the fair start in life they need and deserve.

This is the future I’m offering Britain: fairness, and a better standard of living for all.

MY VISION FOR BRITAIN

The last five years have been difficult for our country, but I’m urging the British people to choose optimism at this election. It is up to us to choose a country for the many, for the good of all.

If we are true to the idea that when working people succeed, Britain succeeds, nothing can stop us as a country. The future is ours if we seize this chance to change. Join us today: labour.org.uk/better-plan-better-future

This morning I am announcing how we will make sure energy prices are fair, bills lower, and homes warmer this winter.

We’ve already said we will freeze gas and electricity bills until 2017 so they can only go down and not up.

Now we’re going further, setting out a plan to give regulators the power and a duty to cut prices in time for Christmas.

This is such an important issue to me. We live in a country where you can’t fulfil one of the foundations of family life — keeping your home warm — without being ripped off by one of the big energy firms.

And you may remember how, when I first announced our energy price freeze 18 months ago, the Big Six energy firms were up in arms.

But I knew then it was the right thing to do — and what’s happened since has reinforced that.

First, prices continued to rocket upwards while David Cameron tried to justify it and acted more like a PR guy than a Prime Minister.

Then changes in the world market meant the cost of energy to the suppliers came tumbling down.

But the sky-high prices families pay didn’t.

The cost of energy to the Big Six firms fell by 20%. Household gas bills declined by between 1 and 5%. Electricity bills haven’t fallen at all.

Now even George Osborne and David Cameron admit this is a problem but they still won’t do anything about it. They will never stand up to powerful interests and they will never stand up for you. My government will be different.

We will stand up to the big energy companies. We will go ahead with our price freeze. We will reset this broken energy market for the long term so that proper competition and regulation can ensure fair prices are charged in the future.

We will pass a law to ensure falling costs are passed on to the consumer this winter. This will be a law giving the regulator a legal duty to ensure fair prices. This will be a law that gives regulator the power to cut prices and keep homes warmer this winter.

I’m sure there will be big vested interests complaining about it.

I can live with that because I’ll always do what is right for working families and millions of British businesses who will benefit from this change.

If you know someone who think energy bills are a rip off, share this post with them so they know what’s at stake in this election.

For me, everything starts with this: our country is currently set up only to work for a privileged few at the top. It’s time to level the playing field so it works for us all.

When David Cameron talks about the economic recovery, most people in Britain are left wondering why they aren’t feeling its benefits. They want to know why, when they work so hard, their living standards are falling; why, when they make a decent living, they can’t afford to buy a house; and why, against the experience of every generation before us, their kids are worse off than they are.

Or let me put it another way: people are asking why we have zero-hours contracts while some at the top seem to get away with paying zero tax. The same rigged system that lets most people down allows a privileged few to grow ever more wealthy.

This widening inequality is no accident; it is the direct result of the Tories’ values and their beliefs about how Britain should be run.

• They believe that insecurity is the way you make people work harder.
• They think low pay is the way we should compete in the world.
• They trust that markets will always get the right outcome.
• They believe the only answer for our public services is to hand them over to private firms — our NHS included.

These ideas failed us in the past and they are failing us now.

Underpinning these ideas is a set of values I abhor: the view that the success of the country depends on a few at the top, and that the rest of us should be content to sit patiently and wait for some scraps to fall from their table.

My own values could not be more different from those of this government.

• I believe it’s essential that people are rewarded fairly for their hard work — and that we cannot live in a country where chief executives get pay rises 10, 20, 30 times as large as their workers, year on year on year.
• I believe that each generation should do better than the last.
• I believe that decent public services are the foundation of who we are as a country — and that the NHS is the embodiment of that.
• I believe that no vested interest — no bank or energy company or any other rich or powerful group or person — should be allowed to take advantage of the rest of us.

Above all I believe that Britain only succeeds when working people succeed.

Those are my values. They’re why I want to be your prime minister, and why I believe our country needs a Labour government.

If this is a vision that you believe is right for Britain,
I need your help to win the election in six months’ time, because we will only win if everyone who wants change fights for it.

We’re going to do it door by door, street by street, town by town.

We’re going to talk to friends, neighbours, and communities about our ambitions for our country. We’re going to chip in small donations to club together against the Tories’ millionaires.

When you’re deciding whether or not to get involved, remember what we’re fighting for:

• Energy bills frozen until 2017
• An £8 minimum wage
• The end of exploitative zero-hours contracts
• Guaranteed jobs for young people
• 200,000 more homes built a year
• The end of the bedroom tax
• Reform of our banks so they work for our businesses once again
• A cut in business rates to help small businesses
• Apprenticeships alongside every government contract
• An end to recruitment agencies only hiring from abroad
• The repeal of the Health and Social Care Act
• Tens of thousands more doctors, nurses, midwives and care workers

Together, these measures add up to a country that starts to work for the majority again.

Millions of people in this country are resting their hopes on us fighting for a fairer, better Britain in six months’ time, and I will not let them down.

The future of our country is in our hands.

In six months a Labour government can begin the business of changing our country for the better. Help us get there: http://labour.tw/1tYncgM