Tories warn of 'huge social gulf'

Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling was speaking ahead of the launch on Tuesday of a strategy paper setting out Tory plans to tackle inequality in what they term "Britain's divided cities".

Under the plans, specialist help would be offered to get young people out of gangs and into work or training, while job placements for 18-21 year-olds in areas affected by gang crime would be made a priority in the welfare system.

Meanwhile, welfare-to-work spending would be targeted at independent organisations and there are promises of better support for community groups working in deprived areas.

Mr Grayling will visit the deprived Toxteth area of Liverpool on Tuesday, and will tell local business leaders in a speech that life in parts of Britain's cities has become "a throwback to the 19th century of Victorian gangs and vast social divides".

He will set out a five-point plan to tackle joblessness and the gang culture, as well as extra school funding for children from disadvantaged backgrounds and a "zero tolerance" approach to gun and knife crime and violent disorder.

Tuesday's document accuses the Labour Government of allowing income inequality to rise to an all-time high and the gap in the life expectancy of rich and poor to reach its widest since Victorian times.

Promising to make "fixing our broken society" the top priority of a Conservative Government, the document describes Britain as "a divided nation, where the poorest in our society are growing poorer while the fortunes of the richest are rising" and where "pockets of extreme deprivation sit right next to some of our most affluent districts".

"Hidden behind smart city high streets and wealthy urban centres are whole communities blighted by crime, where almost nobody works, and where the gang culture on the streets offers children a kind of stability and support that family life has not provided," states the strategy paper.

"The stark inequality and crushing disadvantage in our most deprived areas are the visible scars of a broken society. Educational failure, community decline, lawlessness, addiction and benefit dependency are destroying far too many lives."