Case shows what is wrong with society, say Tories

People should not dismiss "terrible crimes" as an isolated incident and forget about them, he said yesterday as he launched the party's plans to "mend our broken society".

Mr Cameron said: "When we think about these terrible crimes, what has happened today in Doncaster, I don't think it's right every time one of these events take place to say that it is just some isolated incident of evil that we should look away from and forget about.

"Are we going to do that every time there is a Jamie Bulger or a Baby Peter or a Ben Kinsella or a Gary Newlove or what has happened in Doncaster? We shouldn't, we should ask what has gone wrong with our society and what we're going to do about it."

Mr Cameron, who challenged Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the House of Commons on Wednesday over troubled Doncaster Council and whether the attacks could have been prevented, insisted he was not "pointing the finger" at the South Yorkshire town.

"People in Doncaster have suffered from this terrible crime just as people in other parts of our country have suffered from other crimes," he said during the speech in Kent.

He added: "Some people would say this is not the right day to talk about our broken society.

"Well I don't agree, I think when things like this happen it is right to stand back, to reflect and to ask ourselves some pretty deep questions about what has gone wrong in our society.

"And let me say at the outset this is not pointing the finger at one party or one Government, some of the things that have been going wrong in this country have been going wrong for years and for decades."

Mr Cameron said the biggest single problem was people taking a lack of responsibility, and defended his proposals to recognise marriage in the tax system.

The draft chapter of the manifesto published yesterday included action to improve schools, a fight back against crime, making Britain more family-friendly and building a "Big Society".

He said that with the economy apparently recovering, it was right to focus on society.