The Conservatives tried to preempt Gordon Brown’s autumn offensive with the launch yesterday of a 19-page paper, called An Unfair Britain, in which they attempt to show that Labour policies have made Britain more unfair.

They claim that the number of people in deep poverty has risen by 900,000 since Labour came to power and that the gap in life expectancy between rich and poor is the highest since the Victorian age.

They also claim that Labour’s “stealth” tax policies meant that the poorest now pay more than the rich, while a failure to reform schools meant that the education gap between poorer and better-off students is getting worse.

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, aimed to undermine the Prime Minister as he prepared to unveil a series of new policies to help those suffering under rising fuel and food prices.

Mr Osborne said: “First it was ‘change’, then it was ‘aspiration’, and earlier this year it was all about government being ‘on your side’. Now we’re told, before it’s even started, that the next Gordon Brown relaunch will be about ‘fairness’ . . . [but] across the board, Labour’s policies have made Britain more unfair.”

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