Parties locked in bitter battle over job loss claims

Labour and the Conservatives were last night locked in a bitter battle over the scale of job losses their rival economic policies would entail once the General Election was over.

Chancellor Alistair Darling claimed Tory plans to cut £2 billion from the state payroll in the current financial year would cost tens of thousands of jobs in both the public and private sector.

However his Tory opposite number George Osborne responded by challenging him to publish a secret Treasury assessment of the jobs that would be lost as a result of Labour's planned increase in National Insurance contributions.

In an exchange of letters tonight, Mr Darling said the Tories' economic strategy was in "disarray and confusion" while Mr Osborne retorted it was Labour's policy which had "collapsed in a heap of contradictions".

The intensity of war of words over the issue - which has dominated the first week of campaigning - underlined the central importance both parties attach to establishing their economic credibility at the expense their rival's. In a speech to activists in his Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in Scotland, Gordon Brown called on the Tories to explain exactly how they would cut the deficit at the same time as reducing taxes and protecting services.

"The British people should not be asked to put a cross next to a question mark," he said.

In an interview with ITV News, the Prime Minister went further denouncing the Tory plans as "fraudulent".

"People will see through that over the next few weeks. They'll see it was built on a fraudulent claim that they could find money without cutting the basic public services," he said.

In his speech at Kirkcaldy's Adam Smith College, Mr Brown sought to address some of the criticisms of his own style, declaring: "I realise I am not slick and the honest truth is I don't really want to be."

Earlier the Prime Minister was forced to order the sacking of one of his candidates after it was revealed that he had posted a series of offensive remarks on Twitter.

Stuart MacLennan, 24, was dismissed as the Labour candidate for Moray in the north of Scotland following the disclosure that he described elderly people as "coffin dodgers" and delivered foul-mouthed rants about other politicians.

The latest clash on the economy came after Sir Peter Gershon, who provided the blueprint for efficiencies to fund the Tories' promise to reverse next year's National Insurance rise, indicated controls on public sector recruitment would contribute up to £2 billion of the £12 billion saving.

He said this would involve not filling posts when they become vacant and driving down the use of agency and contract staff - which experts calculated could reduce overall public employment by 20,000-40,000.

Other savings would come from renegotiating procurement contracts and scaling back the use of consultants. Tory leader David Cameron insisted the reduction was "do-able and deliverable" without compulsory redundancies.

Mr Darling insisted the Tory plans would cost jobs not only in the public sector, but in private companies which rely on contracts for services like IT support and agency work.