Greek voters were “revolting against failure” by electing the anti-austerity party Syriza, David Cameron has said as he warned that the result in Greece highlighted the danger of re-electing Labour in Britain.

As George Osborne warned that promises by Syriza would be “very difficult to deliver and incompatible with what the eurozone currently demands of its members”, the prime minister sought to use the result to highlight the Tories’ “long-term economic plan”.

This contrasted with the danger of handing power back to people who created “the mess in the first place”.

The prime minister sought to draw a highly contentious parallel between Syriza’s victory and the dangers posed by a re-elected Labour government in Britain during a speech to Tory activists in Eastleigh in Hampshire.

He said: “What the Greek election shows is that you need to have an economic plan that works. The Greek voters were revolting against failure, economic failure - a country whose economy had shrunk, whose unemployment was unacceptably high and they couldn’t see a secure future.”

The prime minister said that the economic failures in Greece contrasted with his success in stabilising the public finances and in creating the conditions for economic growth. He suggested that neither would have been, or would be, possible under a Labour government.

Speaking of the Greek election result, he said: “There is a massive contrast with what has happened here in Britain where, yes, we have taken long-term difficult decisions. But our economy is now much bigger than it was in the crash rather than much smaller, a country where we’ve got more people in work, where under this government we have had 1,000 more people get a job every day since we have been in office.

“I think what the Greek elections will also show, as I have put it before, is that there are some warning signs, some danger signs in the global economy – instability in the eurozone, less rapid growth from the developing economies.

“These warning signs point even more to the importance of sticking to our long-term economic plan that is delivering rather than taking a risk with the people who got us into this mess with their plans for more borrowing, more spending, more tax – all the things that got us into the mess in the first place.”

The prime minister’s remarks came after the chancellor issued what amounted to a warning that Syriza’s demands would require exit from the eurozone. He denied that the Greek vote reflected opposition to austerity but was instead a vote against economic policies in Europe that had not been working.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, suggested that the Conservatives were playing politics over the Greek result. He said: “Just like our elections are a matter for the people of this country, so who the Greek people elect is a decision for them.

“It is the responsibility of the British government to work with the elected government of Greece for the good of Britain and Europe and not to play politics.

“And it is up to each country to choose its own path on how to deal with the economic and social challenges they face.

“We have set out our path for Britain: to make sure our country is fairer and more prosperous and balance the books.”

Labour is likely to argue that Syriza’s success does not have huge significance for Uk policies since Britain is outside the eurozone. But the Green party will argue that the vote shows latent public support for bolder calls to protect the poor and boost public spending.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Osborne said: “I certainly understand that if you have unemployment at 25%, if your economy has shrunk by 20%, as the Greek economy has over recent years, you are looking for other answers, alternatives – because ultimately this is just the latest chapter in the eurozone crisis.

“It increases economic uncertainty and it reminds the United Kingdom that it needs to work through an economic plan that is delivering lower unemployment and growth and economic security.”

He added: “People get tired of economic failure. They get tired of rising unemployment. And in the UK, returning to economic chaos, returning to the lack of an economic plan would see higher unemployment. So I think the lesson for us is: continue to work through the plan that is working, that is delivering that higher job rate...

“What people don’t like is economic policies that don’t work; in the UK, we have an economic policy that is working.”

He said the south-west alone has seen almost 100,000 jobs created over the last year, one of the fastest job-creation rates across the world.

“People here – and indeed this is true across the country – are seeing greater economic security, jobs being created, more personal prosperity as earnings rise faster than prices. So I think what you see is not a defeat of austerity; it’s a defeat of economic plans that don’t work. And in Britain we’ve got an economic plan that is working.”

He rejected suggestions that the solution lay in higher public spending. “I don’t think it’s just a question about the public finances. I think that is a panacea, that’s a false hope that it’s just a question of spending more money in these countries. One of the reasons these countries are in a mess is because they weren’t able to bring their public finances under control in the past.”

Green MEPs hailed the result as a victory for the forces opposed to austerity.

Keith Taylor, Green MEP for South East England, and Molly Scott Cato, MEP for South West England, said: “The result of the Greek elections has shown that the people of Greece have taken a strong stand against the politics of austerity.

“Greens share the view of the new government that austerity is a failed model which has piled misery on the poorest while making the wealthiest even richer. This result shows that challenging business as usual politics can win the support of the people.

“We hope the Greek election result marks the beginnings of ordinary people standing up to a discredited economic model and failing governments across Europe.”