MICHAEL Howard launched a "Battle for Britain" yesterday when he became the first party leader to publish his election manifesto - but he kept his tax-cutting plans under wraps.

The Conservative leader said that at 63 years old, he was old enough to "hang up his boots", but was determined to fight on to prevent "five more years of smirking" under Tony Blair.

The manifesto contained little that was new and omitted details of how the Tories plan to make their remaining £2.7bn of tax cuts, details which are being kept back for later in the campaign.

Mr Blair immediately condemned a "fraudulent prospectus", claiming there was a £15.7bn black hole in the plans because Mr Howard was promising to both boost spending and cut taxes.

The Conservatives are pledging -

* Value for money and lower taxes:

A Tory Government would match Labour spending on the NHS, schools, transport and foreign aid but spend one per cent less overall per year.

Savings of £12bn a year by 2007/08 from cutting bureaucracy and quangos would pay to cut borrowing by £8bn and cut taxes by £4bn.

Britain would not join the European single currency.

The state pension would be raised in line with earnings and pensioner households given an annual council tax discount of up to £500.

* Flexible childcare and school discipline:

Schools would receive an extra £15bn a year by 2009/10.

Heads and governors would be given full control of admissions and expulsions, with unruly pupils placed in "Turnaround Schools''.

An additional 600,000 school places would be provided over five years to allow 100,000 more parents to get their child into their first-choice school.

Student fees would be scrapped.

* Better healthcare:

NHS spending would increase by £34bn - matching Labour - as well as centrally-set targets and

bureaucratic bodies being scrapped and front-line staff given more powers.

Patients who choose to go private would have half the cost of the same treatment on the NHS paid by the taxpayer.

The Tories would also give matrons more power to close dirty wards to prevent infection and introduce health checks on immigrants.

* Safer communities:

5,000 new police officers each year and their paperwork cut, an extra 20,000 prison places created, early release schemes scrapped and drug rehab places increased tenfold to tackle crime which is "out of control''.

Cannabis would be changed back to a class B drug.

* Controlled immigration:

Britain would take, from the United Nations, only a set number of asylum seekers whose cases would be processed outside Britain.

The UK would withdraw from the 1951 Geneva Convention to take back control of asylum policy.

An Australian-style points system for immigration would be introduced with Parliament setting an annual cap on numbers and a new border security force would patrol ports 24 hours a day to secure Britain's borders.

* Accountability:

Regional assemblies would be scrapped and powers returned to town halls, the number of MPs cut by 20 per cent and a deal sought for a "substantially-elected House of Lords".

Local councils would be given stronger planning powers to deal with illegal traveller encampments, the right-to-buy scheme will be extended to housing association tenants, speed cameras will be reviewed, and rules on green- belt development tightened.

MPs would be given a free vote on whether to overturn the ban on fox hunting.

* Defending our freedoms:

Frontline defence spending would be £2.7bn higher than Labour's plans. Warships and historic regiments would be saved from the axe.

A referendum on the European Union constitution would be held within six months, an opt-out from the EU's Social Chapter would be restored and fishing policy taken back from Brussels.