The shadow chancellor has said Britain is being turned into a nation of cowards by "compulsive caution".

As part of the Tories summer offensive on the nanny state Oliver Letwin said society must learn to accept and manage risk.

In a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies think tank on Friday, he claimed that complex regulation designed to minimise risk is impoverishing British society.

The Dorset West MP said: "Our obsession with risk minimisation is imposing terrible risks on society.

"When cheese rollers and pancake racers are grounded it is a shame, but when charitable work is derailed by excessive regulation this is an attack on the most vulnerable people in our communities."

Public sector cost

Letwin warned that the idea of an accident is "fast disappearing" as compensation claims against the public sector increase.
 
"In 1990 the NHS paid out £53 million to claimants, by last year this had risen to £477 million, with cases amounting to a further £5 billion in the pipeline.
 
"Given such liabilities, one begins to understand the compulsive caution spreading through our schools, hospitals and police forces, and, for that matter, through society as a whole."

He predicted that: "We will pay a price for this obsession with risk minimisation and for the 'reckless caution' it engenders."

"The call to minimise risk is a call for a cowardly society. Society must learn to accept and manage risk," he added.