Tory plan to boost voluntary sector

Mr Cameron will accuse Labour of holding back the potential of the voluntary sector with red tape and centrally-set targets and promise to set it free.

The publication of the Opposition's proposals is the latest move in a concerted effort by Mr Cameron to push the Tories as the new pace-setters on social policy.

And he will accuse the Government of losing sight of the beliefs of welfare state architect William Beveridge that individuals and groups had to be allowed to act on their initiative.

Recent research showed that only 12% of charities were paid enough to cover the costs of helping deliver public services and that innovation was being stifled by government rules, he will say.

Under the Tory proposals, the voluntary sector would compete to provide services on an equal footing with private firms and would be given freedom on how they were delivered. They would benefit from longer-term contracts and charitable giving rules would be simplified to help stimulate flagging levels of donations from the public. A new network of Social Enterprise Zones would encourage investment in deprived areas.

Mr Cameron, who will launch the proposals at a Kent community organisation, will say: "Every day we see new evidence of things going seriously wrong in our society. The social challenges we face today are every bit as serious as the economic challenges Britain faced in 1979.

"And now, just as then, the scale of the challenge demands radical Conservative reform. The big difference in British politics today is about the role of the state: Gordon Brown believes in top-down state control; we believe in bottom-up social responsibility.

"Labour believe that only the state can organise and deliver collective provision: we have a vision of non-state collective provision. The modern Conservative Party stands for a simple principle when it comes to social reform and the role of the state: that there is such a thing as society, it's just not the same thing as the state.

"So we want to see a transformation in the role of community groups, social enterprises and the voluntary sector in helping to build a stronger society for all of us."