Blair 'is ready to call April election'

Tony Blair is considering holding an early general election in April in a bid to wrong-foot the Tories, Labour sources have revealed.

Contingency plans have been drawn up for the snap poll following a raft of surveys which showed the Opposition is still failing to connect with the public.

Labour will start the New Year with a two-week nationwide advertising campaign featuring the slogan "Britain is working - don't let the Tories wreck it again".

The ?1million publicity blitz, at 1,950 poster sites across the country, is designed to get the year off to a flying start and generate the momentum to propel the party to election day.

The most likely date is still widely seen as 5 May, but senior strategists have pencilled in 21 April as a "viable alternative" that would add a crucial element of surprise.

Planners are worried that if the party becomes boxed in by 5 May the Government will be seen to be slow-footed and vulnerable to other events.

Although turnout could be boosted because local elections are held that day, some in Labour's Old Queen Street HQ fear that anger at council tax and town hall performance could hamper the vote for Westminster. Claims that an even earlier poll, in February or March, was being seriously considered have been comprehensively denied, largely because the Budget is scheduled for mid-March and a three-week election campaign is needed to ram home its principal messages.

The Prime Minister cannot realistically go to the polls in the summer as Britain takes up the six-month presidency of the European Union on 1 July, and weeks of groundwork have to be done.

Under the contingency plan, the campaign would start on 1 April, towards the end of the Easter Commons recess. The crucial two extra weeks' parliamentary time would also be exploited to push through a bigger-than-ever list of Bills for a third term. April and May have been left clear of major announcements in Whitehall diaries. But the EU presidency will mean that the last half of next year will be dogged by non-domestic issues.

"The third term will have a lot of work for us to do and the sooner we get on with it the better," one Labour source said.

The Tories are gearing up for the fight ahead, launching a direct mail campaign in the New Year.

Chairman Liam Fox said he was not worried by Labour's ?1 million publicity campaign.

"This suggests Labour might be trying to cut and run to bounce voters into supporting them into an early election. We will be ready for them whenever they decide to fight this campaign," he said.