The Conservatives are promising to bring down council tax bills for the elderly.

In full page Sunday newspaper adverts the Opposition leader Michael Howard pledged to take action to help pensioners with the payments, although full details will not be unveiled until Monday.

The move comes as figures for this year's council tax rises are finalised, with Labour boasting that its councils are putting rates up by less than Tory controlled town halls.

But Howard blames Tony Blair's government for putting pressure on local authorities, by failing to give them sufficient funds for the services they are expected to provide and forcing them to increase "stealth taxes".

In his party's first solid tax cut commitment he is promising to fund the move by cutting local government bureaucracy, putting £1.3 billion of £4 billion set aside for Tory tax cuts towards the "priority".

With pensioners becoming increasingly large in number and more likely to turnout than younger people, all major parties are targeting the "grey vote" in the run-up to the general election.

"I believe that people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in their old age," Howard wrote.

"So I will increase the value of the state pension in line with earnings, making pensioners up to £11 a week better off.

"Those who have given so much so should surely receive their due.

"I will help pensioners with council tax bills. The council tax has been Mr Blair's most punishing stealth tax and it has hit people on fixed incomes particularly hard."

Dispute

However deputy prime minister John Prescott said "council tax increases this year are set to be the lowest in a decade".

"The latest figures that we are releasing predict an average increase of 4.4 per cent. Band D figures show that Labour councils are coming in at 4.2 per cent, compared to Tory authorities increasing by 5.5 per cent on average," he said.

"The Tories should be concentrating on ensuring their own councillors keep council tax bills down. Like last year, Tory authorities are setting higher average council tax increases than Labour ones.

"Look at the difference between Labour run Doncaster, who are proposing a zero per cent increase, and Tory led South Cambridgeshire, who are reportedly looking to increase council tax by 100 per cent.

"But we do recognise that pensioners deserve extra help. That is why this year we are helping pensioner households over 70 with £100 extra, and we are committed to giving them a further £50 to help with next year's council tax bills.

"The Tories sums do not add up and they have not even said how they will pay for this uncosted proposal."

Howard insists that "all my plans have been fully costed and are fully funded so that Britain's economy will be secure for the next generation".