The Conservatives will today launch their campaign for the European elections with an assault on Brussels bureaucracy.
Michael Howard will call for a quarter of the 80,000 pages of accumulated laws and rules of the EU to be scrapped.
The Conservative leader will begin the campaign with a tour of the country, stopping in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff.
However, the Tories have complained to the Cabinet secretary that the government has put the start of its elections purdah period back too far.
They argue that May 20 is too close to June 10 to stop making political announcements when a third of the electorate is expected to vote by post.
