Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to revolutionise the way Japan’s economy is governed by ending bureaucratic control of budgets and cracking down on waste, in his first policy address to parliament as prime minister of Japan on Monday.

Mr Hatoyama, who led the Democratic Party of Japan to a historic victory over the Liberal Democrats in August, acknowledged that the “most important topic” for his administration was safeguarding Japan’s recovery from the fierce recession into which it plunged last year.