Parties gear up for gruelling poll battle

THE election battle has kicked off in earnest with fierce clashes over budget plans as the Tories set out their stall to win key Yorkshire battlegrounds.

The Tories will hope a pledge to target health spending at deprived areas will reassure crucial northern voters after Labour's "class war" barbs, while they chose the West Yorkshire constituency of Gordon Brown's closest ally to launch a major billboard campaign.

In a day of fierce exchanges ahead of the general election expected in May, Labour yesterday attempted to spike Tory guns by publishing a file claiming to expose a "credibility gap" of 34bn in plans announced by David Cameron.

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The Tories dismissed it as a "dodgy dossier" and seized on Chancellor Alistair Darling's refusal to rule out a VAT rise if Labour wins – apparently defying other Ministers keen to rule out such a move.

But Mr Cameron was also forced to clarify confusion after he appeared to water down plans to give tax breaks to married couples.

Ahead of the resumption of Parliament after the Christmas recess today, the Prime Minister pledged extra help for primary pupils who fall behind in numeracy or literacy on a visit to a school in east London while the Tories launched their billboard campaign – to appear in 1,000 sites – picturing Mr Cameron pledging "I'll cut the deficit, not the NHS".

Shadow cabinet members fanned out across the country to launch the adverts including William Hague unveiling one in Morley and Outwood, the new constituency Schools Secretary Ed Balls will fight – a decision which will be seen as a sign of growing Tory confidence that they could cause a huge election upset by defeating Mr Brown's ally.

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With a general election due by June 3, the Tories even went as far as publishing a draft of the health chapter of their manifesto yesterday as Mr Cameron claimed the Tories are the "party of the NHS".

He sought to crush Labour's attacks on the privileged background of senior Tories by pledging a "health premium" – likely to benefit Labour heartlands such as Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Hull, Rotherham and Wakefield – targeting resources on the poorest areas in a bid to end health inequalities.

"If the NHS is not working for the poorest in our society, then it's doing a poor job," he said.

Labour claimed there was an "utter incoherence" in the Tories' health policies – which also promised maternity reforms.

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Chancellor Alistair Darling broadened Labour's attack by publishing a 150-page dossier on Tory tax and spending announcements, claiming the Tories have made more than 45bn of promises but "can barely explain how they can pay for a quarter of this".

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable joined in the attack, claiming their sums "simply do not stack up", but the dossier prompted a fierce rebuttal from Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.

"On examination, the dossier includes commitments we have never made, wild exaggerations of our costed policies and in some cases, admissions that some changes would actually be cheaper than we have budgeted for," he said.

But at the end of a day of claim and counter-claim, Mr Cameron was forced to issue a statement pledging to recognise marriage in the tax system in the first term of a Tory government.

It followed an earlier interview in which he only said he "hoped" to do so, apparently watering down a previous commitment. .