Soap star backs Tory 'Big Society campaign'

The Tory leader won backing for his campaign from former EastEnders star Brooke Kinsella – whose 16-year-old brother Ben was killed in 2008 – as he said society should be based on "hope optimism and faith in each other".

"This is what Barack Obama called the audacity of hope," he said. "Now it is our turn to dare to believe that we can change our world."

Addressing an event hosted by the Centre for Social Justice thinktank in London, Ms Kinsella said the Tory plans for knife crime were the toughest of any party, and said of Labour: "Sadly, although I think they care, I do not think they have done enough."

Returning to his vision of a Big Society with a smaller state, Mr Cameron said there was a risk society was slowly becoming "almost immune" to shocking events and called for honesty about what has been happening in the country, challenging Labour's criticism of his use of language about broken Britain.

"As I have argued for many years now, these acts of murder and abuse are just the most violent and horrific expressions of what I have called the broken society," he said.

As the parties sought to return to debate over policy amid frenzied speculation over the possibility of a hung parliament, Labour accused the Tories and Liberal Democrats of forming a "coalition of cuts for kids".

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg talked about the need to protect NHS services.