LABOUR has fired the opening salvoes in what looks likely to be a bitter battle for a key North-East constituency at the forthcoming General Election.

The Liberal Democrats have declared Durham City to be their number one target at the election, expected to take place in May.

Labour held the seat at the 2001 election with a 13,400 vote majority, but since then sitting MP Gerry Steinberg has announced his retirement and the Lib Dems have won control of the city council - leaving them with realistic ambitions of winning the sea.

Labour opened the battle by firing a double broadside at their opponents. Firstly, they released the text of a leaked memo from Lib Dem councillor Paul Leake, in which he said Labour would "wipe the floor" with his party in a discussion on policy and, secondly, condemned a Lib Dem survey on the state of the NHS as misleading "trickery" for failing, according to Labour, to make it clear that it was a party political exercise.

Labour's Prospective Parliamentary candidate, Roberta Blackman-Woods, launched a scathing attack on her opponents.

She said: "It has been difficult to discuss policy with the Lib Dems in Durham as they have repeatedly released no details about what their policies are, or what they believe in."

However, the Liberal Democrats said the row showed that Labour was "running scared" of the real issues.

Parliamentary candidate Carol Woods said: "Labour should be more worried about what Durham residents are saying in response to the health survey than what was on the envelope it arrived in."

Coun Leake said: "My comments were a tongue-in-cheek way of pointing out that Labour always goes for the cheap attack instead of tackling the issues - and what they have done simply proves my point."