Tony Blair has announced that the general election will be held on June 7 saying he is seeking a fresh mandate for a radical second term.

The Labour leader's formal announcement, which sets the scene for a month-long campaign, came in a speech in a south London school. After weeks of media speculation, the prime minister fired the starting pistol for a June 7 general election on Tuesday afternoon as opposition leaders got off to a quick start on the election campaign trail.

Speaking in the assembly hall at St. Saviour's and St. Olave's school and photographed hymn book-in-hand with a stained glass backdrop, Blair said: "I stand before you today with a sense of both humility of hope. Of humility because although we can take pride in many achievements since 1997 we know we still have so much to do."

As expected he warned against voter apathy. "Every vote in this election is precious. No-one's support should ever be assumed. That is the strength of our democracy," Blair told his audience.

Labour will seek to emphasis that the degree of difference between the two main political parties is greater than at any time since 1983. "This election is about which party can be trusted with the economy, which party is capable of leading Britain into the future," Blair told an audience of 500 schoolgirls.

The choice of venue signalled the determination of Labour spin-doctors to make education and other public services the key issue during the campaign.

Times columnist Peter Riddell uses words including "nauseating, emotional, tacky, exploitative" to describe Blair's campaign start, the Independent brands it "cheesier than a Wotsits factory".

The school head, Irene Bishop, criticised the government's education polices for attaching strings to funding, extra paperwork and performance-related pay for teachers. Conservatives were quick to call the school venue a "gaffe" observing that St Saviour's and St Olave's was one of the schools snubbed by the former cabinet office minister, Harriet Harman, when she took her controversial decision to educate her daughter in a Westminster school.

The government will claim to have laid strong economic foundations during its first four years and will say that as a result, it can now afford to spend large sums on improving education, health and transport.

The economy moves immediately to the forefront of the election campaign with a speech today by the chancellor, Gordon Brown. The speech will outline Labour's goals for a ten year 'progressive era' and attack the Conservative proposals for tax cuts as putting economic stability at risk.

Opposition leaders immediately joined the election 2001 campaign trail.

William Hague launched his election campaign in Watford, a constituency that the Tories will need to win if they are to form the next government. Watford was captured by Labour's 24 year-old Claire Ward in 1997 with a majority of 5,792.

Speaking under a sunny sky but with an audience of only a few dozen, Mr Hague took to a soapbox to criticise Tony Blair's record on class sizes, crime, asylum and tax.

He reiterated a point that is likely to be a key theme of the Tories' campaign when he said that Labour was "not so much asking for a second term as for a second chance".

The Tory leader finished by promising a campaign for Britain telling the Tory faithful, journalists and one persistent heckler: "And to all those people who believe in an independent Britain, we are in it for you and we are going to give you back your country."

Launching a "culture war" against Labour and emphasising a Tory theme of "real" politics for real people, Hague attacked Labour's perceived preoccupation with political correctness. "I want to talk to people who are interested in the price of petrol more than proportional representation, people who are interested in the GCSEs their children will get rather than repealing section 28... people who see the pound as a symbol of their country rather than the millennium dome. These are the real people of our country and in this election we are going to give them a choice and that is what this election is about."

Charles Kennedy was quick to respond to Tony Blair's election announcement with a statement within minutes decrying Labour's record on public services.

He also rounded on the Tories accusing them of being negative and "playing on people's fears".

The Lib Dem leader said that his party would use modest tax increases to improve health and education, playing not to fears but to voters' aspirations. Promising to "tell it straight" and be honest with people Kennedy said: "That is what we are going to do as a party and I think that the marked contrast between the two opposition parties is going to be very evident in the course of this campaign."

The Liberal Democrats combined their battle to steal the march as the opposition party of principle with a frank appeal to the Labour's disillusioned core voters.

"People can see that things are not improving and that they can't carry on expecting tax reductions if they want public services. That is going to be a very open and honest choice," he said.

Kennedy said that his party would increase its share of the vote at the election but blaming the electoral system, fell short of predicting an increase in Lib Dem MPs.

In the regions a high-profile team of Labour's women ministers will head-up the election campaign. Both the e-commerce minister, Patricia Hewitt, and the education minister, Estelle Morris will head regional campaigning teams.