MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

PM Cameron expected to announce a social ‘fight-back’ program

However Cameron has refused to ease his announced budget spending cuts

Prime Minister David Cameron said his government would mend Britain's “broken society” to prevent a repeat of the country's worst riots in decades.

More than 2,800 people have been arrested since a protest over the fatal shooting of a suspect by police prompted rioting and looting in the poor north London area of Tottenham, which spread across the capital and sparked violence in other English cities.

Cameron, who returned from holiday in Italy last week at the height of the unrest, is seeking to tap into widespread public anger over the protests, which occurred 15 months after he took office at the head of a cost-cutting coalition.

“This has been a wake-up call for our country. Social problems that have been festering for decades have exploded in our face,” Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, will say in a speech on Monday.

“Now, just as people want criminals robustly confronted on our street, so they want to see these problems taken on and defeated; our security fight-back must be matched by a social fight-back,” he will say, according to advance extracts of his speech.

The stakes are high for Cameron. Any repeat of last week's lawlessness, in which shops were smashed up and set on fire and five people were killed, will sap public confidence in his government.

However, analysts say Cameron a slick former public relations executive, could benefit politically if he provides the tough law and order response some voters are seeking.

Cameron has responded to the crisis by taking a hard-line stance and his speech on Monday will refer to the dangers of indiscipline in schools and family breakdown, succour to traditional Conservatives who feel their young leader is too liberal on social issues.

Cameron, 44, and his centre-right Liberal Democrat coalition partners will review their program over the coming weeks, looking at issues like welfare and addiction to ensure that stronger communities can be built.

But the PM has ruled out easing spending cuts which some left-wing critics say are fuelling tensions in Britain's cities, where the gap between rich and poor is gaping.

Cameron believes that jittery financial markets will take fright at the first sign of backtracking on plans to erase by 2015 a budget deficit that peaked at over 10% of national output.

Planned spending cuts have put Cameron on a collision course with the police, still smarting over his criticism of their initial response to the riots.

Police chiefs say a 20% cut in their budget over the next four years will make it harder for them to maintain law and order.

Their anger has been stoked by Cameron's decision to seek advice from William Bratton, a US police chief who has worked in Boston, New York and Los Angeles and is considered an expert at tackling gang culture.