Labour's election strategists are targeting some vulnerable Tory seats at the next election.

An internal paper, leaked to the Times, shows that Alan Milburn, the party's election supremo, is being advised to divert resources to a handful of Tory-held seats.

Boston and Skegness, Beverley and Holderness, Bedfordshire South West, Basingstoke and Castle Point are the top five Conservative-held target seats.

A paper from Fraser Kemp, the vice-chairman of Labour's election planning group, to Milburn says that a significant poll gap of around five percentage points has opened up with the Conservatives over the past month.

He says: "It seems clear that far from making widespread gains, the Tories may again be struggling to hold what they have."

However, the Independent reports that a Liberal Democrat surge could enable the Tories to capture 70 Labour held marginal seats.