The Conservatives are proposing paying mothers £150 a week to stay at home and look after their babies.

Michael Howard will back the idea of extended maternity benefit for up to a year, while Tony Blair will use a rival speech to guarantee 10 hours of care for young children every working day. 

Party bosses want to appeal to women between 20 and 45 who are considered more likely to vote.

The Tory leader will emphasise that his childcare policy will target "those who stay at home full-time, those who work full-time and those who work part-time".

The prime minister, meanwhile, will announce that all parents of children of primary school age will have access to childcare at a rate of £2.50 to £3.00 per hour by the end of the next parliament. 

Blair will say: "I want an end to latch-key kids as we move from the traditional welfare state to an opportunity society that helps families with the problems they face."

Interviewed in the Guardian, Theresa May, the Tories' spokeswoman on family issues, says: "The Conservative Party has always been the party where it is assumed that we would always be saying to mothers 'thou shalt sit at home'. We are not: we are saying this is about choice for families."