Parties launch unofficial election campaigns
Updated on 04 January 2010
Labour and the Conservatives step up their political campaigning with pledges on education and NHS funding at the start of what could be a five month election battle.
The prime minister, Gordon Brown, will join the schools secretary Ed Balls to promise extra tuition funding for primary school pupils in England who fall behind with their studies in English and Maths.
Mr Brown and Mr Balls will pledge that all Key Stage 1 pupils, who are aged six and seven, will get either one-to-one tuition or get extra help in small groups from September 2011.
Labour will also go on the attack against the Conservatives over their spending plans, with Chancellor Alistair Darling claiming the party has a £50bn black hole from uncosted spending commitments.
However the Conservatives have claimed the 100 page dossier that Labour will be releasing to reporters has been prepared with civil service help.
As the Conservatives and Labour seek to grab the political initiative at the start of election year, the Tory leader David Cameron will promise to divert NHS resources to deprived areas.
Mr Cameron will publish a chapter from the Conservatives' draft manifesto as he seeks to counter the Tory's image as the party of the rich.
Mr Cameron will also reveal plans to give mothers a "real choice" over the way they give birth, a day after his visit to a maternity hospital in central London.
