David Cameron has said that it will take more than a generation and state action to restore a culture of self-reliance in Britain.

In the most complete explanation of his political philosophy so far, the Tory leader acknowledged that individuals and communities would not take back responsibility overnight.

He repeated his attack on Labour’s record on poverty, saying that its over-reliance on economic levers such as tax credits had helped encourage rather than diminish worklessness.

The “paradox” of New Labour, he said, was that in seeking an “act of social solidarity” it had overseen the greatest atomisation of society leading to “selfishness and individualism”.

Not only had the gap between rich and poor widened despite a redistribution of billions of pounds, "the once natural bonds that existed between people, of duty and responsibility, have been replaced with the synthetic bonds of the state", Mr Cameron said in a lecture to the Hugo Young Foundation.

He argued that that bearing down on root causes of deprivation such as poor education, family breakdown and welfare dependency could only be successfully done with the engagement of the "big society".

But he admitted that it would take more than reducing the size of the state to renew civic society. “This means a new role for the state: actively helping to create the big society; directly agitating for, catalysing and galvanising social renewal.”

Although he gave few details of how a Cameron government would carry out this work he said that it would be guided by three key approaches — decentralisation, transparency and accountability.

In seeking to restore a society capable of taking back power from the state Mr Cameron said that he would focus on identifying and encouraging capable individuals committed to running social programmes.

Those that worked would be franchised across the country and funded “directly from state budgets to deliver public services”. Challenging those who are sceptical about his plans, he said: “If we find the right people, a relatively small number can make a huge difference.”

The Tory leader also said that an administration run by him would provide far more start-up help for local community projects such as beat meetings or parents groups wanting to set up a new school.

He acknowledges, however, that the greatest change will be needed in cultural attitudes among “that significant percentage of the population who have no record of getting involved — or a desire to do so”.

Getting the mass engagement needed to change peoples’ behaviour could be done in part without politicians. If people were able to register their voluntary action on the social networking site Facebook it would do “more than any number of government campaigns”.

But changing "social norms" will also require state action, Mr Cameron conceded, since “physical connection is paramount in building trust and strong communities”. Subsidising post offices and even local shops could be justified if it helped foster a sense of community, he said.

Apparently heeding warnings over unrealistic expectations, he said that it would take many years to reverse the culture of "big government".

“This is not the work of one parliamentary term, or even two. Cultural change is much harder than state control. It will take more than a generation.”

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