DAVID Cameron will insist today that the Coalition policy of ambition and engagement across the globe will mean it will win the "battle for Britain's future".

Speaking to more than 100 business leaders in Essex this morning, the Prime Minister will set out his mission statement for the UK in a pre-G8 summit speech. World leaders gather at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland next week.

Mr Cameron will insist Britain succeeds when it "strives to be more than the sum of our parts – the small island with the big footprint in the world".

"There are wrong-headed approaches we must avoid," he will warn. "The rejection of the modern world and the unquestioning embrace of globalisation; they amount to different kinds of national timidity. Either too wary to engage in the world or too afraid to stand up for our national interests."

Mr Cameron will say his Government has identified key areas of national weakness: the debt-fuelled, un-balanced economy; the bloated welfare system and the under-performing education system. He will say the Coalition is turning these around with "ruthless ambition".

Abroad, the PM will point to his attempts to reforging friendships with some of the fastest-growing parts of the globe like Brazil, China and Russia.