Campaigning in his Folkestone and Hythe constituency, Michael Howard has pledged to stand up for the "forgotten majority".

Returning to a key campaign theme, the Tory leader said his party was on the side of pensioners, hard-working families, professionals and entrepreneurs.

"Just imagine for a moment what our country would be like if the values of the hard-working forgotten majority prevailed," he said.

"Think about a Britain after five years of Conservative government - a Britain where the prosperity earned through work and risk-taking creates wealth for all.

"A Britain where everyone can climb the ladder of opportunity, where families are rewarded, a Britain where justice is done and wrongdoers are punished.

"A country which has put the 'something-for-nothing culture' behind it and recognises that personal responsibility is the bedrock of a healthy society."

Pledging to do more to help pensioners, Howard said elderly people "don't seem to feature in Mr Blair's New Britain".

"New Labour's Britain is a young country, a country where the older generation has been airbrushed out," he said.

Howard also attacked the "disgrace" of elderly people having to sell their homes to pay for residential care.

"Imagine putting money aside for your retirement only to find that it's not there," he said.

And a "humiliating" system of means testing was too complicated and penalises people who save for their retirement, added Howard.