DAVID Cameron will today try to instill a "can-do optimism" in Britain, seeking to energise the nation in the face of the debt crisis but he will also deliver a frank message the road to recovery will be a long, hard slog.

In his keynote speech to the Conservative Party conference, the Prime Minister will present a dose of realism about the state of the economy but will also seek to avoid the gloom-laden messages of some of his colleagues, most notably Business Secretary Vince Cable, who last month likened the economic crisis to wartime Britain.

"You hear pessimism about our economic future, our social problems, our political system, that our best days are behind us, that we're on a path of certain decline. Well, I'm here to tell you it isn't true," Mr Cameron will declare.

He will warn that if the UK simply hopes for the best and thinks the economy will recover without effort and determination, then it will get nowhere.

But he will argue that if vested interests like the trade unions are confronted and past mistakes like the lack of bank regulation corrected, then the ship could be turned around.

"Nobody wants false optimism and I will never pretend there are shortcuts to success but success will come with the right ideas, the right approach, the right leadership."

Mr Cameron will say Britain need not look to become more like the emerging nations of China, India and Brazil but must "become more like us … hard-working, pioneering, independent, creative, adaptable, optimistic, can-do".

He will stress that what is needed now is for Britons to be "energised, not paralysed by gloom and fear" and will remind the conference the cause of the UK's greatness is its own people taking a lead.

"That's why so much of my leadership is about unleashing your leadership," he will tell conference. "Giving everyone who wants to seize the opportunity, the support and, above all, the freedom to get things done. Giving everyone who wants to believe it, the confidence that working hard and taking responsibility will be rewarded not punished.

"So let's reject pessimism, let's bring on the can-do optimism. Let's summon the energy and the appetite to fight for a better future for our country – Great Britain."

The PM will also acknowledge this is an anxious time for the nation with prices rising, cutbacks to services, job losses and people asking "why the good times are so long coming".

He will explain this was "no normal recession" but caused by too much borrowing. "That means households, all of us, paying off the credit card and store card bills, it means banks getting their books in order, and it means governments, all over the world, cutting spending and living within their means."

l Job seekers will be expected to spend longer looking for work and take jobs further from home or face losing benefits as part of a Conservative-led welfare crackdown, the party said yesterday.

The rules are to be changed to force the 1.58 million people on benefits to take up jobs up to 90 minutes from their homes – 30 minutes more than the commute requirement imposed on many of them at present.