Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith is leading a campaign to get MPs out of Westminster by spending nearly a week working with an inner-city project in Bradford.

The MP will be in the city for five days working with disaffected youngsters at the Lighthouse Group in Great Horton Road.

And the former soldier is even living with staff at the charity for the week to get a feel of what life is like tackling social problems.

Instead of attending House of Commons debates or surgery meetings in his Chingford and Woodford Green constituency the Tory MP has been meeting young people in Great Horton to find out life is like growing up in the inner-city.

The Lighthouse Group works with young people who have either been excluded or are in danger of being excluded from mainstream school.

And it provides accommodation and support for young people who are coming out of care.

The charity runs its own school and youth centre which provides out-of-hours activities for youngsters.

Mr Duncan Smith, who unsuccessfully stood for election in Bradford West in 1987, arrived at the Lighthouse Project on Monday and spent yesterday meeting young people working in lessons.

There will be 20 Tory MPs visiting inner-city projects in the first wave of Mr Duncan Smith's challenge.

And he told the Telegraph & Argus he wanted to get all of the shadow cabinet involved as well.

He said: "I want to get people out of Westminster and on to the ground.

"It is about trying to change the culture of Westminster.

"We sit in an ivory tower; we go to our constituency but we don't go outside of our constituencies. I want people to be working outside of their comfort zones."

Mr Duncan Smith, who has set up a Centre for Social Justice policy group, said he wanted to address the issues of family breakdown and drug addictions in Britain's inner-cities.

He said: "The groups of people affected by these problems are becoming more and more.

"So organisations like the Lighthouse Group are important to us and we need to see if we can replicate their work elsewhere.

"Most of the solutions for young people with broken lives comes like this at community level.

"It is much better than what can be done by national government or local government.

"I have puzzled over why we have such a high level of family breakdown. It is the worst in the western world.

"Talk to people here in education and they say that family breakdown is the single biggest issue they face and they are picking up the pieces."

Mr Duncan Smith said each of the 20 MPs involved in his inner-city challenge would be adopting their project and making return visits next year.

He said: "This is not just for one week. I want this to be a four or five-year programme."

The Lighthouse Group has been running in Bradford since the 1980s.

It is now looking to set up similar projects working with disaffected youngsters from the inner-city in both London and Birmingham.

Spokesman Paul Chenery said that the charity hopes the centres will be open by 2007.

e-mail: john.roberts@bradford.newsquest.co.uk