Cameron defends Big Society idea - BBC News

12 February 2011 Last updated at 21:57 ET

David Cameron has rejected accusations that his Big Society policy is simply a mask for government spending cuts.

The prime minister said his initiative to give a greater role for community and voluntary groups was intended to change the way the country was run.

Writing in the Observer, he accepted that such organisations might need help in the face of government cuts.

Charity leader Dame Elisabeth Hoodless has said the cuts attacked volunteering and the whole concept of Big Society.

'Step forward'

Mr Cameron said: "Building a stronger, bigger society is something we should try and do whether spending is going up or down.

"But there is a broader point to be made. As the state spends less and does less - which would be happening whichever party was in government - there would be a positive benefit if some parts of society were to step forward and do more."

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The whole approach of building a bigger, stronger, more active society involves something of a revolt against the top down, statist approach of recent years"

End Quote David Cameron

The prime minister said billions of pounds of government contacts would be opened up to bids from groups within society.

"The scale of this opportunity dwarfs anything they've ever had before," he said.

Mr Cameron said the government would announce details in the coming week of a £100m transition fund to help groups at a time when local councils were seeing their budgets cut.

'Here to stay'

There will also be a Big Society bank to inject £200m of working capital for projects approved under the scheme.

Mr Cameron said: "We are not naively hoping the seeds will grow everywhere of their own accord; we are helping to nurture them.

"That's why we will soon be announcing the partners who will help us deliver our commitment to provide 5,000 community organisers in the areas where they are needed most."

Rejecting the notion that the Big Society was too vague, Mr Cameron said: "True, it doesn't follow some grand plan or central design.

"But that's because the whole approach of building a bigger, stronger, more active society involves something of a revolt against the top down, statist approach of recent years.

"The Big Society is about changing the way our country is run. That's why the Big Society is here to stay."

Substance and style

Dame Elisabeth, who is retiring as executive director of the country's largest volunteering charity the Community Service Volunteers (CSV), said "massive" council cuts would make it harder for people to do more in their communities.

Liverpool City Council has withdrawn as one of four pilot areas for the Big Society plans.

Council leader Joe Anderson said government cuts had threatened the future of many local volunteer groups.

At Prime Minister's Questions this week, Labour leader Ed Miliband said the government's cuts were making society "smaller and weaker".

Mr Miliband continued his assault on the Big Society in the Independent on Sunday, saying the government was undermining the concept's foundations with billions of pounds of cuts.

He suggested the current administration's substance and style resembled that of Margaret Thatcher's in the early 1980s.