Leaflet row: Labour politicians stand by Tory cuts claims

Junior Communities Minister Shahid Malik, defending his Dewsbury seat, and Gordon Brown's parliamentary aide Jon Trickett, standing in Hemsworth, were among the Labour figures accused of telling "lies" about Tory policy in campaign leaflets.

Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove followed up David Cameron's attack during the second leaders' debate, alleging Labour had "forfeited the right to govern" by claiming the Conservatives planned to cut benefits for the elderly.

Yesterday – as it was revealed that about four million people had tuned into the debate on digital TV – the Tories published a dossier of leaflets put out by Labour candidates across the country which made claims they insist are false, including alleged plans to axe perks such as winter fuel payments.

It included a letter from Mr Malik listing a series of "facts" about Labour's record including winter fuel allowance increases, free eye tests and free prescriptions for pensioners – all of which Mr Cameron has now pledged to protect.

Below it he wrote: "The Tories have promised savage cuts to public services which could put much of the above at risk."

Meanwhile a letter from Mr Trickett sent in January said: "If you are a pensioner you could lose your winter fuel allowance, free travel, eye tests, swimming, TV licence and passport, and your pension credit."

On Thursday, Mr Cameron has called on the Prime Minister to withdraw the leaflets and yesterday said he was "frankly pretty angry" about them.

Mr Trickett, however, claimed it was "phoney outrage" and said his letter had not been used during the campaign.

"When I wrote the letter, the Tories' policies showed that they were looking at all items of spending to achieve cuts," he said. "They weren't prepared to say what they ruled in and what they ruled out. My letter said they 'could' cut a number of items, not that they 'would'. The public had the right to know and I made the information available."

n While yesterday all parties continued to claim a victory for their leader in the TV debate, users of the social networking website Facebook have been joining a group that aims to catapult Mr Clegg into Number 10.

The "We got Rage Against the Machine to No1, we can get the Lib Dems into office" group now has nearly 140,000 members.