Broken Britain claims rejected

Their comments come following a visit to a project which is aimed at tackling inner city youth crime.

They had spent half-an-hour with a group of 13 and 14-year-old girls in an area plagued by endemic gang violence.

The girls are taking part in the Reclaim project at the Urbis arts centre. It takes girls and boys from south Manchester and aims to steer the youngsters away from crime and give them self-respect outside gangs.

Ms Blears said: "It's a really important project because what it's doing is bringing girls together from different areas of south Manchester which in the past has had a pretty difficult reputation.

"I think empowering young women like this is one of the most important things you can do. It has been quite an inspiration for me. They want a different future for themselves and they are determined to make it happen."

She said: "I don't accept Britain is broken. We are not only doing it now, this is one of a number of projects that's been going on for a number of years. I think what we are doing here is sowing the roots of something that for many years to come will make a big difference."

Meanwhile, Cherie Blair has rejected claims that British society was "broken" amid a spate of knife and gun murders. She insisted the country was still "strong" despite significant problems with violent crime.

But Mrs Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, risked inflaming tensions with Gordon Brown by pointedly refusing to endorse him as the best man to tackle the issues.

Mrs Blair, who previously caused controversy by conceding she worried about her children walking the streets, was speaking to an audience of campaigners and victims at a Labour conference fringe event organised by the Sun newspaper.