LABOUR leader Ed Miliband will today set out his vision of a "one nation economy" based on high skills, high wages and entrepreneurship.

In his speech, he will insist his party's new approach will involve a decisive shift towards innovation and dynamism by backing small businesses with a proposed rates cut, which could benefit some com­panies by £2000 over two years.

He will argue how the vital link between family finances benefiting from a growing economy has now been broken.

Mr Miliband will say this is "Because too many of the jobs we are creating in this country are just too low paid, too many of the gains in our economy are just scooped up by a privileged few, including those with big bonuses and too often you are left being charged over the odds.

"They used to say 'A rising tide lifts all boats' - now the rising tide just seems to lift the yachts."

Emphasising how Britain has had the slowest recovery for 100 years, with the longest fall in living standards since 1870, Mr Miliband will insist David Cameron should be embarrassed about his record as Prime Minister over 39 months, 38 of which have seen prices rising faster than wages.

He will tell delegates: "At the General Election in 2015, you should ask yourself: Am I better off now than I was five years ago?

"You've made the sacrifices, but you've not got the rewards. You were the first one into the recession but you are the last one out.

"Will the pain be worth it for the gain under this Government? No. They are not going to solve the cost of living crisis because for them it is not an accident of their economic policy, it is their economic policy.

"David Cameron talks about Britain being in a global race, but what he doesn't tell you is he thinks the only way Britain can win is for you to lose."

Mr Miliband will insist the only way Britain can win is not a race to the bottom with the lowest wages and the worst workplace terms and conditions, but to the top by giving small businesses a proposed rate cut, helping con­sumers get a fair deal and equipping young people with skills.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls, in his speech yesterday, said a Labour government would "not flinch" from making the hard choices necessary to cut the deficit and restore Britain's economy to health.

"Let us show we will not duck the great challenges we will face on spending and the deficit and let us build an economy that works for all working families in every part of Britain," he said.

Mr Balls made clear, under its professed "iron discipline", a future Labour administration would also have to make spending cuts, manage the nation's finances with less money and would not be able to reverse all the Tories' tax rises.

In an attempt to convince voters of Labour's fiscal credibility, he said his party would ask the Office for Budget Responsi­bility, the UK Government's independent economic watchdog, to audit its tax and spending plans for the next General Election.

Technically, this will need a vote at Westminster to change the remit of the OBR. Its chairman, Robert Chote, said the proposal was "a good idea" but would mean the watchdog would need extra resources and would need sight of parties' manifesto plans months in advance.

However, Tory Treasury Minister Sajid Javid branded Labour's request to the OBR "a stunt" to distract people from "the fact Labour have been found out for making unfunded commitments".

In another move, Mr Balls said a Labour government would give working parents 25 hours a week of free childcare to be funded by an £800 million increase in the bank levy rate. This would mean an £80m consequential increase for the Scottish Government, which could spend the money how it liked.