Unveiling the party's manifesto, Caroline Lucas, who tops the Green list in the South East Region, said that Labour was failing to deal with the public's concern over the safety of GM food.

"People don't want GM foods, supermarkets recognise that even if the government does not," she said.

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The party is committed to a complete ban on the production and importation of GM products, saying a brief moratorium would be insufficient to test the food's safety.

Ms Lucas said that rather than addressing public concerns Labour was guilty of spending more time over "how they spin the story into something that sounds less worrying to the public instead of tackling the issue".

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She added that many people had been shocked by the closeness between Labour and big business over the issue and called on the public to send a message to Tony Blair that the government's stance on GM food is unacceptable.

Ms Lucas' remarks follow last week's announcement by the government that GM foods on sale in the UK are entirely safe.

The Greens are entering this campaign full of confidence, buoyed up by their recent triumph in the Scottish elections, which saw them return their first member to a national parliament.

They are now hoping to return at least two members to the European Parliament.

This is in part due to the new proportional representation system for the Euro elections which the party says enables the people to "vote for what they really want".

Under this system Green MEPs could be elected if the party won between 8% and 9% of the vote.

The Greens' previous high-water mark came in the 1989 Euro elections, conducted under the old system, which saw them take 15% of the vote, but fail to return a single member.

The Greens rule out signing up to the euro, unlike some of their sister parties on the continent.

They say the single currency does not take into account "environmental or social concerns" and would prevent the creation of "strong and diverse local economies".