David Cameron this morning launched a furious attack on Labour MPs 'bleating ' about poverty after it emerged more than a million people turned to food banks last year . The Prime Minister said Labour had left millions of people trapped on welfare in a system which 'punished the poor ' . He accused Ed Miliband and Ed Balls of having 'some brass neck ' by attacking the Tories for failing the poor , adding : 'Do n't you dare lecture us on poverty . ' Scroll down for video . The Prime Minister , delivering a major speech on the economy in Bedford today , said Labour had left millions of people trapped on welfare in a system which 'punished the poor ' Mr Cameron , in a major speech on the economy this morning , said the Tories were overhauling the benefit system , increasing the minimum wage and providing more free child care to help parents get to work . He added : ‘ True compassion isn ’ t giving people a benefits cheque – it ’ s giving them a chance. ’ He said Labour had left a system where a single mum , working 15 hours and earning £87 a week , would have actually lost money if she had taken on any more work . Mr Cameron said families stuck on benefits were not ‘ playing the system ’ but were ‘ victims of it ’ . He said they were ‘ victims of a welfare trap laid by Labour , paid for by hardworking taxpayers ’ . The PM added : That destroyed aspiration . It created resentment . And it was never meant to be this way . Welfare was meant to be a safety net – not a web from which no-one could escape . ‘ So when I hear Labour politicians bleating on about the same old Tories , not on the side of working people , I just think : some brass neck . ‘ It was you who trapped the poor on welfare and widened inequality . Yes , you Ed Miliband and Ed Balls who designed these systems that punished the lowest paid . So don ’ t you dare lecture us on poverty . ‘ And know this – the true party of working people in Britain today is us , the Conservative Party. ’ Mr Cameron accused Ed Miliband and Ed Balls of having 'some brass neck ' by attacking the Tories for failing the poor , adding : 'Do n't you dare lecture us on poverty . ' Mr Cameron promised extra free childcare for 600,000 children a year to counter spiralling costs and said the expense of nurseries and childminders has become a major barrier to employment . The Conservatives have pledged to reduce tax relief on pension contributions for people earning more than £150,000 to fund additional free childcare places . ‘ For many second earners , work didn ’ t pay because the cost of childcare was so high . So we introduced 15 hours of free childcare a week for three- and four-year-olds and disadvantaged two-year-olds . ‘ In the next Parliament we will double that for three- and four-year-olds . That ’ s right – 30 hours of free childcare a week – worth £5,000 to working families . ‘ That means over 600,000 extra free childcare places available for families every year – nine million extra hours of childcare a week and parents able to work an extra 78 days a year without any childcare costs – all by 2017. ’ Mr Cameron also argued ‘ that true compassion isn ’ t giving people a benefits cheque – it ’ s giving them a chance ’ . The new free childcare will be available where all parents in the household are working at least eight hours a week at the minimum wage . The new 30 hours entitlement will cost just under £350 million a year .
Prime Minister said Labour had left millions of people trapped on welfare . He accused Ed Miliband of having 'some brass neck ' by attacking Tories . Mr Cameron said he wanted to 'make hard work pay ' unlike Labour . He said that work rather than benefits is the best way to avoid poverty . Comment: