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.

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.

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

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