David Cameron today used his New Year's message to declare that Britain is "heading in the right direction" on all the big issues and can look forward to 2013 with "realism and optimism". In the video address, the Prime Minister acknowledged that 2012 was "tough", with many families finding it difficult to make ends meet, and admitted he had "no quick fixes" to the UK's economic problems. But he cited evidence of "real progress" on cutting the state deficit, reforming welfare and improving school standards, which he said was preparing  Britain to succeed in the "global race" with emerging economic giants like China and India for the jobs and opportunities of the future. Mr Cameron said that his administration was "a government in a hurry" which would not give in to pressure to slow the pace of deficit reduction or rein in reforms to welfare and education. Cameron said that the deficit is forecast to be a quarter smaller at the New Year than it was when the coalition Government came to office, there are almost half a million more people in work, and more than 1,000 new academy schools have opened. And he hailed moves to take millions of low-paid workers out of income tax, freeze council tax bills and deliver the largest-ever increase in the state pension. Cameron said that Britain is in a global race to succeed today. It is a race with countries like China, India and Indonesia; a race for the jobs and opportunities of the future.