A Conservative government would spend more on health than Labour in its first years in power in order to convince voters of its good intentions towards the NHS.

Shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin will use a speech next Monday to say that extra spending on health would not depend on big savings in Whitehall.

Yesterday, the Tories promised to freeze civil service recruitment from their first day in office.

Conservative leader Michael Howard claimed that for every 1,000 people in Britain, two were doctors and three police officers, but nine were civil servants.