DAVID Cameron has sought to fire up a lacklustre Tory General Election campaign, telling business leaders he is "pumped up" and "bloody lively" because Britain is on the brink of something special that could be thrown away if Labour get into power propped up by the SNP.

Speaking to a supportive group of business leaders in the City of London, the Prime Minister, jacket off and fists clenched, launched himself into the last full week of campaigning, insisting: "I want this so badly," and promising to work the "hardest I have ever worked" in the final stretch of the campaign.

Insisting there was just over a week to save Britain's hard-fought recovery, he said to cheers and applause: "If you think I'm going to roll over for the next 10 days and let Ed Miliband and Alex Salmond wreck that, you have another thing coming. We have a fight on our hands."

The Tory leader stressed how the election came down to a "binary choice" between him and Mr Miliband and he urged people to think hard when they had "that stubby pencil in your hand in the polling booth"; asking themselves how the country had come so far, did they trust Labour with the economy?

He said the UK had progressed so much in the last five years and now faced a choice between continuing with a "magic formula" that was working or going back to square one and waste five years of hard work and sacrifice.

"If I'm getting lively about it, it's because I feel bloody lively about it...It's decision time; that's what pumps me up about this," he declared to applause.

Mr Cameron referred to remarks from Len McCluskey, the Unite leader, who urged the Labour leadership to work with progressive parties, admitting it would be wrong for him to attack the SNP, given the Nationalist manifesto was anti-austerity, "which," said the union leader, "is Unite's policy, and many of the issues that they talk about are in line with the policies of my membership".

Responding, the PM said: "Len McCluskey said if Labour get in, they should do an alliance with the SNP; more taxes, more borrowing, more unlimited welfare, all of the things that got us into the mess in the first place."

With the polls showing a continued deadlock and Conservative candidates increasingly alarmed that the good economic data has still not apparently convinced voters to back the Tories, Mr Cameron launched his party's small business manifesto, telling his audience that it was they who were Britain's wealth creators.

Talking of a "small enterprise revolution", the PM praised them for creating 2.2m jobs since 2010, insisting they were the "magic ingredient" to the nation's recovery.

"You are responsible for that turnaround; the small businesses, the start-ups, the entrepreneurs, the people who work and graft.

"You are responsible for something else; the inspiration that we all draw from the values you hold to; the values of hard work, enterprise, of graft, of putting in and believing that reward follows effort. So a really big thank you."

Apparently responding directly to accusations of a highly controlled, insipid campaign to date, the Tory leader was red-faced and sweating when he answered the self-asked question what he was in it for.

"Let me tell you what I want it for. I want it for the small business that works round the clock...for the people who put their lives on the line for their family. I want it for those who go out and work hard to get that security for their family, to make the most of their lives..."

His campaign speech came after the leaders of 5000 smaller businesses signed a letter to the Tory-supporting Daily Telegraph backing the Conservatives' approach.

Referring to how this was the most important election for a generation and a "battle for the backbone of Britain", Mr Cameron insisted if people wanted "the excitement of risk, vote for the other guy" but if they wanted economic security and stability, then they should vote Conservative.

"The economy comes first. There's nothing without a strong economy. You can have all the plans and all the dreams and ideas in the world. They don't amount to a row of beans unless you've got a strong economy. That's what we've got in Britain. That's what you've built in the last five years. Don't put it at risk. Don't put it to waste. Go out there and fight. We can win."

The Tories' small business manifesto says the party will:

- aim to increase the number of business start-ups to 600,000 a year by 2020;

- cut another £10bn of red tape;

- keep the Employment Allowance until 2020;

- instigate a major business rates review and

- set up a new conciliation service to mediate in disputes! especially over late payments.