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Cameron setting out welfare plans Tories 'can fight poverty best'
(about 2 hours later)
David Cameron is setting out his ideas for helping Britain's poorest and claims the Tories are now "best-placed to fight poverty in our country". The Conservatives are now "best-placed to fight poverty in our country" and Labour's "big government" has failed, Tory leader David Cameron has said.
The Tory leader will also attack Labour's record on reducing inequality. In a speech in London, he said the "rapid expansion" of the state under Labour had not reduced inequality.
He will say the welfare system tells young girls that having children before finding work and a loving relationship is a way to getting a home and money. Massive spending on health and welfare had produced only "a measure of success in lifting those just below the poverty line to just above it", he said.
Labour said the Tories wanted the state to withdraw from tackling poverty, creating a "return to Thatcherism". Labour's Yvette Cooper said it marked a "return to the Thatcherite approach".
'Remake society' Delivering the annual Hugo Young lecture, Mr Cameron said the "big government" approach made people dependent on the state and trapped them in poverty.
In the annual Hugo Young lecture in London, Mr Cameron is expected to match Labour's pledge to eradicate child poverty by the end of the decade. Far too many of the people I see in my constituency surgery are, thanks to the state, financially better off if they do the wrong thing David Cameron
He will reportedly promise to lower unemployment within five years if his party wins the next election. He said its "moral failure" was to create a system where it paid not to work and which penalised those who had worked and saved by forcing them to sell their home for residential care.
Our alternative to big government is the big society David Cameron Huge welfare spending since 1997 had not reduced inequality, youth unemployment or social mobility and the state had become "broadly ineffective", he said.
Mr Cameron is also expected to say that the Conservatives will review all welfare programmes within two years of coming to power and scrap those deemed not to be working. Society 'atomised'
His predecessor and a key welfare adviser, Iain Duncan Smith, has already backed the idea of giving benefit claimants hundreds of pounds if they return to employment. He said the "harm" done by means-tested benefits included lowering incentives to work.
Mr Cameron will announce he is to nominate Debbie Scott, who runs Tomorrow's People - a charity helping unemployed youngsters without qualifications or skills into work - for a Conservative peerage. "Far too many of the people I see in my constituency surgery are, thanks to the state, financially better off if they do the wrong thing than if they do the right thing," Mr Cameron said.
Fend for themselves
He will say: "Our alternative to big government is not no government.
"Our alternative to big government is the big society, but we understand that the big society is not just going to spring to life on its own: we need strong and concerted government action to make it happen. We need to use the state to remake society."
Mr Cameron's speech is well worth studying for anyone who wants to understand what a future Conservative government might do Nick RobinsonBBC political editor Read Nick's thoughts in fullMr Cameron's speech is well worth studying for anyone who wants to understand what a future Conservative government might do Nick RobinsonBBC political editor Read Nick's thoughts in full
Mr Cameron is expected to say Labour has produced only "a measure of success in lifting those just below the poverty line to just above it". He argued that the government's methods to help the poor had caused an "atomisation" of society, breaking down natural bonds of duty and responsibility and replacing them with a reliance on the state.
He will argue that the government's methods to help the poor have caused an "atomisation" of society, breaking down natural bonds of duty and responsibility and replacing them with a reliance on the state. And he repeated pledges to "end the couple penalty in the tax credits system" by increasing them for couples who stayed together.
He said he did not want the state to withdraw from society - but wanted to use it to "remake society" by supporting activists and encouraging more people to get involved in improving their communities.
He said he shared Labour's "aspiration" of wanting to abolish child poverty by 2020 but also wanted to deal with the gap between the "bottom and the middle" of society.
Mr Cameron announced he would nominate Debbie Scott, who runs Tomorrow's People - a charity which helps unemployed youngsters without qualifications or skills into work - for a peerage to join the Conservative team in the House of Lords.
For Labour, Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "David Cameron is calling for the state to withdraw, leaving people to fend for themselves and charities and community groups to pick up the pieces.For Labour, Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "David Cameron is calling for the state to withdraw, leaving people to fend for themselves and charities and community groups to pick up the pieces.
"This is a return to Thatcherism, or even 19th century liberalism - cutting back on government action on poverty, yet still backing tax cuts for the wealthiest estates.""This is a return to Thatcherism, or even 19th century liberalism - cutting back on government action on poverty, yet still backing tax cuts for the wealthiest estates."
At a separate event with business leaders Chancellor Alistair Darling said the government could not "walk away" from its responsibility to help.
He said he would be unveiling his pre-Budget report in December and it would show government had a major role to play.