Tories plan to break up gangs with new job placement scheme

They believe the gulf between rich and poor has become as wide as it was in Victorian times.

They want to give areas affected by gang crime priority funding towards job placements for 18- to 21-year-olds.

High priority: Tories are targeting the gang culture

Under their proposals, money will also be directed towards charities and community groups working with those young people most at risk.

Conservative work and pensions spokesman Chris Grayling said: 'The only way to start to heal the huge social gulf that now exists in our cities is to demonstrate to those who are caught up in the gang culture that there is a better alternative  -  that they can build successful lives if they get the right opportunity to train and to work.

'The trouble is that right now things seem to be getting worse, not better. We desperately need that to change.'

Other measures in the Tory plans include help for children who are falling behind before they even start school; tough action against lawlessness in crimehit areas; and better support for community groups operating in deprived areas.

In a speech to business leaders in Liverpool, Mr Grayling said: 'There are areas of every major city in this country where you will find communities with no children being brought up in poverty, sitting side by side with ones where virtually every child is being brought up in poverty - according to the Government's own figures. What we are seeing is the growth of a subculture in our society that is utterly divided from, and alienated from, mainstream British life.

'These communities might as well be on a different planet from the rest of us.

'This is one of Britain's great social challenges, and the fact that it remains untouched a decade after Gordon Brown and Tony Blair won power will remain one of the great failures of this government.'

Research for the Conservative party shows that in one ward in Leicester, more than 80 per cent of households are classed as 'income deprived' - while elsewhere the city the figure is only 4 per cent.

However, the centre of Manchester shows the greatest disparity. In one electoral ward, nearly half of the residents are income- deprived - whereas in nearby streets the figure is just 1 per cent.