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Irresponsible bankers and businessmen must be held to account if their actions are shown to have hurt the economy, David Cameron has insisted.

In a speech in Canary Wharf the Conservative leader called for a more stringent system of policing City workers and reform of bonuses system.

"Those responsible must be held to account for their behaviour; there cannot be one rule for the rich and one rule for everybody else," he said.

"Fairness means understanding that the whole financial industry has had its name blackened, and wrongly. One million people work in the industry and most are incredibly honest and hard-working.

"But however high up or well-connected they might be, irresponsible bankers should face the professional consequences, and those who acted criminal must be prosecuted."

It is the latest in a series of economic speeches Mr Cameron has made in recent weeks, but polls show no change in the public's view of the Tory performance since the financial crisis, with a recent Ipsos Mori poll putting Gordon Brown well ahead on the issue.

In today's speech Mr Cameron called for a "thorough and proper investigation" into irresponsible City practices.

He said a failure of moral leadership was partly responsible and urged City workers and voters to accept his Tory party's culture of responsibility, "where the richest people are treated exactly the same as everybody else".