Battle for votes begins in earnest

The election campaign has finally kicked off, although the pace of political activity over the last few weeks means no-one has been caught out.

In Westminster, the three main parties have been holding near daily press conferences, in a bid to out-do each other in the media war.

And the billboard campaigns are already in evidence on the streets of Britain.

Policies that have previously been announced have been re-heated in "mini-manifestos" and launched all over again with great fanfare.

By general consensus, the Conservatives got off to the better start.

High profile campaigns on immigration and hospital cleanliness have raised issues with which Labour feels less than comfortable.

Health scrape

And the case of pensioner Margaret Dixon's many cancelled operations dominated newspaper headlines for days, leaving health secretary John Reid struggling to insist that one case should not be used to condemn the whole of the NHS.

But the government will hope that the chancellor's Budget has put them back on the front foot in the countdown to polling day.

Gordon Brown's record as a prudent chancellor who has presided over higher investment in the public services, a growing economy and falling unemployment will be one of the key themes for Labour.

Labour has also been boosted by the Tory woes called by the row over Howard Flight's comments on public spending.

But the party is also keen to show it is not complacent about its record, accepting that in many areas there is still "more to do".

And it is also pledging further reforms in the parliament to come, with public services that do more to meet the needs of "consumers".

For the Liberal Democrats, this election will be a key test of their claim to be the "real opposition" to Labour.

Lib Dem boost

After being written off by many commentators at the last election, Charles Kennedy's troops boosted their Westminster contingent still further.

They will be hoping that a combination of disillusion with Labour in its heartlands and doubts about the Tories in the south of England will lead to a further boost this time around.

In Scotland and Wales, both nationalist parties will be hoping that their anti-Iraq war stance pays off but analysts remain doubtful about whether they can make substantial progress.

And in Northern Ireland the focus will be on whether Sinn Fein can make any gains despite its current problems, and how the Democratic Unionist Party does in relation to David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party.

Unlike other elections such as those to the European parliament or London assembly, the results will be determined in constituencies fought on a first-past-the-post system.

This means that while smaller parties such as the UK Independence Party, the Greens, George Galloway's Respect and Robert Kilroy-Silk's Veritas may gain more media coverage, it would be a significant achievement for any of them to make the breakthrough into Westminster.

With this election set to be Tony Blair's last, much of the focus will be on the prime minister's performance and record.

Blair test

After a second term dominated by controversy over the Iraq war, will he have a big enough margin of victory to push ahead with radical reforms in his third and final term in office?

Will the Conservatives bounce back and make substantial inroads into Labour's huge majority?

Can the Lib Dems confound the experts yet again with their focus on key marginal seats?

And perhaps the most important question of all - will the British public be interested enough to march to the polling booth and play their part in deciding who should govern them?

At the last election, turn out was just 59.4 per cent. If the downwards trend continues, it will be seen as a damning verdict on the politicians of all parties who will be seeking our votes during this campaign.