David Cameron today pledged to create communities with "oomph", as he launched the Tory vision of a "big society" that would involve a dramatic redistribution of power from "the elite in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street".
In his most important speech since the election on devolving power, the prime minister said he wanted to end the days in which capable people become passive recipients of state help and communities were "soulless clones of one another".
But the launch of the "big society", criticised by Tory candidates during the election for being too vague, was overshadowed by doubts about whether the theme was designed to help the government impose stringent spending cuts.
Cameron denied his plans were a cover for public-spending cuts. Speaking on BBC Breakfast, before his speech at Liverpool Hope University, he said: "This is not about trying to save money, it is about trying to have a bigger, better society."
The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, said that "big society" was about getting more for less. Pickles, who accompanied Cameron to Liverpool, told Radio 4's The World at One: "Even at a time when money is tight it is still possible to find different ways of delivering. It is unashamedly about getting more for less. But it is about passing power down to folks so you can start to mould your own neighbourhood and put something back in."
Ed Miliband, the Labour leadership contender, told the same programme that "big society" heralded a return to Victorian philanthropy, with little role for the state. "This is essentially a 19th-century or US-style view of our welfare state – which is cut back the welfare state and somehow civic society will thrive," he said.
Cameron addressed this criticism in his speech, saying it would be naive to assume that if the government played less of a role then miraculously society would do more. Whitehall should help build a big society, which would herald abandonment of the "top-down, top-heavy, controlling" approach of Labour. It was "about liberation, the biggest, most dramatic redistribution of power from elites in Whitehall to the man and woman on the street". He added: "This is such a powerful idea for blindingly obvious reasons. For years there was the basic assumption at the heart of government that the way to improve things in society was to micromanage from the centre, from Westminster. But this just doesn't work. It has turned able, capable, individuals into passive recipients of state help with little hope for a better future. It has turned lively communities into dull, soulless clones of one another. So we need to turn government completely on its head."
Liverpool, Windsor and Maidenhead, the Eden valley in Cumbria, and Sutton in London would be in the vanguard, getting help to set up local projects, ranging from transport to improved broadband provision. Cameron said these places would be big society's training grounds. He outlined the benefits as he answered Tory critics: one move, a new bank (criticised by a Financial Times report which said such a bank could only launch with reserves of about £60m) would use "every penny of dormant bank and building society account money allocated to England".
But Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, warned that cuts to charities' grants would undermine Cameron's ambition. "I am very concerned about the tidal wave of cuts about to hit the sector. [They] will have a detrimental effect on the services received by some of the most vulnerable people."
Cameron also outlined three strands of the big society agenda. These included social action for which the government had to foster a culture of voluntarism and philanthropy. There was also public service reform – getting rid of centralised bureaucracy "that wastes money and undermines morale" – and community empowerment, "creating communities with oomph", the neighbourhoods being "in charge of their own destiny".
PM and his bully 'hero'
It is a probably a joke that has gone down well at dinner parties over the years, though it may not be quite so funny these days. David Cameron thought yesterday that he would impress Phil Redmond, the creator of Grange Hill, by revealing that his hero from the long-running children's television series was Gripper Stebson.
"Indeed, Gripper Stebson was one of my role models in life," the prime minister said after Redmond had introduced him at Liverpool Hope University. As a beautifully behaved Etonian, Cameron could not be further removed from Stebson, who was the Grange Hill bully from 1981 until his expulsion in 1983.
"Stebson turned to hardcore racism and picked fights with black and Asian pupils," the Grange Hill website says.
Nicholas Watt
You have characters left
Please read our community standards.
Closing this window without pressing "Post your comment" will result in your words being lost.
Are you sure?
Thank you for your comment. This has been submitted for moderation.
Your comment has been successfully posted.
Sorry, something has gone wrong and this action cannot be completed. Please try again later.