Damp squibs and limp wrists as election phoney war starts.

Byline: LesReid

IF BATTLELINES are really being drawn for the next General Election, this must be the phoniest war since Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's famous declaration in September 1939.

For months, no real fighting took place in the Second World War. And while there's been plenty of handbags between Labour and Tories in recent months, we still don't know how the real battle will shape up.

This week, David Cameron promised policy statements which would set out clear election priorities for the Tories, as distinct from Labour's. It turned out to be a damp squib.

His populist pledges, such as slashing MPs' food and drink budget, are hardly going to tickle, let alone tackle, the soft underbelly of Britain's monster pounds 175 billion deficit.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been similarly reticent to spell out how public services would be hit to balance the books.

Tony Blair once promised political heavyweight Brown would hit the inexperienced Cameron with a "clunking fist". So far in the phoney election war, it's resembled a limp wrist.

The phoney war on the economy could well continue right up until election day, probably in May. No side will really declare exactly how the public spending axe will fall - give or take vague prioritising of health budgets here, or education there.

David Cameron is considered by pollsters to have won the battle of minds, if not hearts, by convincing the public of the need for cuts. But feedback from focus groups suggests that people are less keen when asked precisely which public sector jobs and services should go.

Labour ministers insist those alleged "green shoots" of recovery widely reported this week mean it's too early to predict how any mild economic growth would impact on the public purse.

One clear difference is that the Tories would not have implemented Gordon Brown's public spending increases this year with a "fiscal stimulus" to prop up the ailing economy. Yet that strategy would be history come election day.

Your average punter on the street is left guessing from past records which party will tax the most, or spend the least of his or her hard earnings on public services.

Call me a cynic, but could a Conservative Party press release this week about Labour's alleged wasted millions on rebuilding the nation's schools, including Coventry's, be preparing the ground for education budget cuts under a Tory government? The Tories' statement contained claims that a Labour government would no longer build or modernise as many schools as it had planned.

Or course, the Tories point only to alleged bureaucratic waste under the Building Schools for the Future scheme. They stop short of saying whether they would cut government investment in the part-privatised schools initiative.

Both parties pledge to cut public sector bureaucracy. One of the few things we do know is that, under a Tory government, it would include job losses in Coventry from scrapping the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.

One thing seems certain, whichever party wins, the road ahead will be bloody.