Riots blamed on absent fathers and poor school discipline

Cameron said ministers will review every government policy to consider whether they are likely to deliver effective societal changes in response to the riots that escalated across England last week.

He described the violent scenes that spread across the country as the result of a "slow-motion moral collapse" and said "children without fathers, schools without discipline and reward without effort" is to blame.

"Over the next few weeks, I and ministers from across the coalition government will review every aspect of our work to mend our broken society," he said.

Among the areas listed in his speech were policies on schools, welfare, families, parenting, addiction and communities, as well as what Cameron described as the "misrepresenting of human rights that has undermined personal responsibility".

On parenting, Cameron reiterated the government’s commitment to turn around the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families in the country, but said the current programme tackling this problem must be expanded and accelerated.

"I don’t doubt that many of the rioters out last week have no father at home," he said. "Perhaps they come from one of the neighbourhoods where it is normal for young men to grow up without a male role model, looking to the street for their father figures. So if we want to have any hope of mending our broken society, family and parenting is where we’ve got to start."

On the coalition’s schools policy Cameron asked whether enough was being done to ensure academies and free schools are opened in the poorest areas.

He also cited Woodside High in Tottenham and Mossbourne in Hackney as examples of schools that "foster pride through strict uniforms and behaviour policies".

Cameron said that on top of the Welfare Reform Bill currently going through parliament he wanted to see tougher conditions for those who are out of work and receiving benefits and help to get more young people into work.

The Prime Minster added that he would put a renewed effort into making the National Citizen Service pilot programme a national scheme available to all 16-year-olds.

But in a speech at his former school in Chalk Farm, leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband criticised Cameron for "reaching for shallow and superficial answers".

He said: "After every major disturbance, from Brixton to Oldham, we have had a commission to look at the causes. We must have one this time; not a review of government policy, conducted by civil servants in Whitehall. We need an answer which comes from the people themselves.

"The people leading this inquiry must include young people, those with experience of being in gangs, people across the community."