Tony Blair was accused of "knee-jerk populism" today as he launched his flagship Respect agenda, which includes new powers temporarily to lock nuisance families out of their homes.

The controversial three-month eviction powers, which apply both to people with mortgages and those who own their homes outright, were revealed as part of the Prime Minister’s package of proposals to "restore the liberty of the law-abiding citizen".

Tories accused Mr Blair of populism. Children’s groups said that much of the plan was existing policy repackaged.

A group of 16 senior Labour ministers fanned out across the country for media events to unveil the 40-page Respect programme of incentives and punishments central to Mr Blair's third-term social policy.

Mr Blair was in Swindon where he said that the measures, whose reach encompasses housing, education, the law courts and parenting, will arm authorities with the power to tackle 21st century problems.

He promised to raise on-the-spot fines for anti-social behaviour from £80 to £100 and said that police would have powers to force offenders to do unpaid work instead of going to court.

There will also be more help for "chaotic" families and teenage parents, said Mr Blair.

The Prime Minister contrasted modern life in Britain with that experienced by his father growing up in a poor part of Glasgow in the 1930s, and his grandfather’s generation before that. He promised that he was not "restarting the search for the golden age". He said the plan included a range of "pre-court" measures to help "rebuild the bonds of community for a modern age".

Charles Clarke, at a youth project in Beckton, east London, conceded proposals to close houses associated with persistent anti-social behaviour - so-called neighbours from hell - was drastic. But he said: "Just because you are an owner-occupier does not give you the right to make life miserable for everybody else."

Mr Clarke met children at the centre and joined in a basketball shooting session. He missed both of his shots.

Hazel Blears, the Home Office minister tipped for promotion to the cabinet this week, was in Birmingham. She insisted such evictions would be a "last resort". Some critics have warned that with nowhere else to go, evicted families will end up in state "sin bins".

David Cameron, the Consevative leader, accused Mr Blair of "one-dimensional knee-jerk populism". Launching his own 'Real Respect' agenda at a community centre on London's South Bank, he said: "I think what we have seen today is a series of gimmicks, eye-catching initiatives, rather than actually doing what he said he would do, which is deal with some of the long-term causes of crime, family breakdown, problems in our communities."

"That is the agenda I am developing. That would be genuinely tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime, and it is a programme of work that me and my shadow team will be spending the next few months developing."

The action plan also suggests new powers to remove anti-social individuals from casualty wards and suggests lowering the threshold at which police could seize the proceeds of crime from £5,000 to £1,000.

Harry Fletcher, the assistant general secretary of the probation union Napo, argued that a strategy based on punishment and coercion is unlikely to succeed.

He added: "Early intervention with parents is essential, but is best based on consent. Compulsory parenting orders, and the eviction of extremely difficult families, will not alleviate the real problems that the Government has identified."

Bob Reitemeier, the chief executive of the Children’s Society, said the plan failed to offer anything more than a "cocktail of policies that have already been launched" together with "shock tactics". "If the Government wants to get more respect from young people, it also needs to show greater respect for them and their rights," he added.

As part of his launch visit, Mr Blair later was handed a high-pressure which he used to blast graffiti off a wall at Toothill Community Centre.

A police officer was asked who was responsible for the vandalism. He nodded in the direction of a group of hooded youngsters watching the proceedings. "Respect? They can’t even spell the word," he said

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