Labour targets crime cash

Labour wants to double the amount of assets seized

Labour is to set out its plans to seize the assets of crime barons as the election agenda moves away from Europe on Sunday.

The Home Secretary Jack Straw will promise to press ahead with plans allowing police to seize assets even before criminals are convicted.

The Conservative leader William Hague is likely to attack Labour's handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis when he meets farmers hit by the outbreak in his North Yorkshire constituency.

The Tories are also set to renew their attack on what they say are Labour's hidden taxes.

Jack Straw: Shifting focus back to crime

And the Liberal Democrats will use the day to condemn the style of the Tory campaign, accusing Mr Hague and his party of "pandering to prejudice and peddling fear, greed and hatred".

Meanwhile an NOP opinion poll, published in the Sunday Times, registers no change for the three main parties since last week, with Labour on 49%, the Conservatives 30% and the Lib Dems 14%.

Under Labour's proposals for the seizure of criminal assets, police would only need to have reasonable grounds for believing money was gained from crime or about to be used in it.

Mr Straw will say that bureaux de change, some of which have been used to launder criminals' money, should be regulated as they are in the rest of the EU.

And he will say Labour would aim to double the amount of assets to £50m a year by the end of the next parliament.

Half would be channelled into crime prevention schemes, such as closed circuit television, as well as being used to fund more police officers.

Phone-in

But the Tories have already accused Mr Straw of repeating previous announcements.

Tory party chairman Michael Ancram said: "Labour's produced a rabbit out of the hat - unfortunately it's a very stale rabbit."

William Hague will meet farmers hit by foot-and-mouth

Although Labour has been accused of keeping ministers away from real people, the party says an election broadcast to be screened on Sunday evening is "part of its determination for real dialogue with the public".

Tony Blair and other cabinet ministers are to field telephone calls direct from the public at the end of the broadcast, which is a personal profile of Mr Blair by young film maker Jack Price.

William Hague too will be fielding questions from voters in his Richmond constituency, at his meeting with those affected by foot-and-mouth.

He will also make a speech on rural affairs.

Michael Portillo, in Essex, will revive the party's attack on Labour "stealth taxes".

'Depressing reading'

The Tory campaign has come under fierce attack from Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell.

Menzies Campbell: "Tory programme is feeble"

"The Conservative manifesto is a feeble pamphlet which panders to prejudice and peddles fear, greed and hatred," he said.

"It makes depressing reading for anyone who believes in the British virtues of tolerance and generosity and our capacity for innovation and enterprise."

Mr Campbell accused the Tories of forgetting pensioners, the NHS, minority groups and the environment.

Weakest link

Also on Sunday, the Green Party will stage a mock episode of the television show The Weakest Link to support its claim that it holds the best policies for the environment.

In Edinburgh, Scottish National Party leader John Swinney is billed to make a keynote speech on the need for strong representation at Westminster.

And in Cardiff, Labour Party defectors to Plaid Cymru will stage a protest at what they say are Tony Blair's plans to privatise parts of the NHS.