Ahead of this week's Budget, Labour has said it will put the economy "centre stage".

Senior ministers were on Tuesday seeking to highlight their economic "success story".

The party sought to draw a dividing line with the Conservatives over its record in government.

At a press conference in London, election campaign co-ordinator Alan Milburn and pensions secretary Alan Johnson outlined the government's track record on growth and jobs.

The party published a breakdown of unemployment figures in the constituencies of senior Conservatives to highlight progress that has been made across the country.

Johnson said the were are committed to undoing this work.

"Through investment in the New Deal and Labour's measures to make work pay, Britain is working with two million more jobs and unemployment at its lowest for almost three decades," he said.

"This is why Labour will put the economy centre stage from now until the election.

"The choice is clear, having come this far, having achieved so much, do we go forward to greater prosperity with a Labour government that can be trusted on the economy or back to the failed past of cuts, soaring mortgage rates, economic incompetence and failure?"

Tax rises

The Conservatives sought to put their own spin on the Budget on the eve of the chancellor's statement.

Party leader Michael Howard said that "whatever sweeteners it may contain, we've heard it all before".

The Tories produced their own figures showing that Labour had raised taxes in each of its Budgets bar the election year of 2001.

And the Opposition also said ministers had broken previous promises on cutting the cost of bureaucracy "virtually every independent commentator agrees that if he gets in again, Mr Blair will raise taxes again".

Budget boost

Milburn declined to confirm if he had seen the Budget, but said he would not "be here today if I didn't feel pretty confident that this is going to be a Budget that will deliver more prosperity".

Brown was upset at being removed from the helm of the party's campaign team by the prime minister last year and has been criticised for failing to pull his weight in the pre-poll skirmishes with the Tories.

However he is set to take up a more prominent role once the Budget is out of the way and Tuesday's event will be seen as a signal that campaign strategists are keen for the economy to be centre stage.

With Labour's campaign faltering in its early stages as the Tories have set the agenda and narrowed opinion poll standings, some MPs have called for the chancellor to be more involved and hope the Budget will re-energise efforts.

Having presided over consistent levels of growth and job creation since 1997, coupled with low inflation and interest rates, ministers want to contrast their record with the previous Conservative administration's "boom and bust" management.

However they will be under pressure to rule out possible tax rises in a third Labour term, with economists predicting that more revenue will have to be found if spending commitments and the chancellor's self-imposed borrowing rules are to be met.