国际英语新闻：British PM unveils flagship policy of "Big Society"

London, July 19 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled on Monday his personal flagship policy of "Big Society," which he said would shift power away from the government towards the people, by giving them control of projects.

He said communities across the country could take over responsibility for their services -- for anything ranging from Internet connections, to housing, and to the more generally accepted duties of local and central government like libraries.

In a speech in the northern port and industrial city of Liverpool, Cameron outlined his vision for the next 10 years.

He said "If you've got an idea to make life better, if you want to improve your local area, don't just think about it -- tell us what you want to do and we will try and give you the tools to make this happen.

"It's my hope -- and my mission -- that when people look back at this five, 10-year period from 2010, they'll say 'In Britain they didn't just pay down the deficit, they didn't just balance the books, they didn't just get the economy moving again, they did something really exciting in their society."

Cameron came to power after forming a coalition on May 11, in the wake of the inconclusive May 6 general election.

He formed a coalition between his right-wing Conservative party, which won the most seats in parliament at the general election but not enough to form a majority government, and the third party in British politics, the left-of-center Liberal Democrats.

Conservatives have a tradition of opposing government spending, and seeking smaller government, while the Liberal Democrats are enthusiastic supporters of individuals having more power.

Their coalition government has been defined in its brief life so far as one which is prepared to carry out large cuts in government spending in order to balance the budget, and in so doing cut a massive public spending deficit that this year has reached a record level of 153 billion pounds (about 240 billion U. S. dollars).

Against such a backdrop of cuts, and most departments in government have been told to prepare for cuts of between 25 and 40 percent in their budgets, funding would prove difficult.

But Cameron revealed that the government would set up the "Big Society Bank", using money from dormant bank accounts to fund community groups and charities seeking cash to support their projects.

Cameron shaped his "Big Society" idea as an attack on government, and on the previous Labor administration which had seen the public sector grow rapidly during its 13 years of rule.