Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has highlighted the continuing crisis in the UK's care homes.

Moving away from international concerns over Iraq, Duncan Smith has said that 2000 care homes have been forced to close since Labour came to power in 1997.

He and the party's health spokesman Dr Liam Fox have highlighted research by the party which concludes that Britain has now lost 60,000 care home beds as a result of the government's funding policy.

"Labour's nanny state mentality has blighted care homes and destroyed the quality of life of many elderly people and their families. They deserve better," said Duncan Smith.

The leader of the Opposition launched of a pamphlet from the party's policy unit assessing the crisis in the care home sector and call for action by ministers.

Duncan Smith and Fox met with Graham Faulkner, chief executive of the National Society for Epilepsy, at a Buckinghamshire care home to highlight some of the problems that the sector is facing.

The Conservatives are focusing on what is an emotive issue; more than 40,000 elderly people are forced to sell their homes each year to pay for the costs of residential care. Under current rules if a person has assets of more than £19,000 - which covers most home owners - they have to pay the full costs of residential care themselves.

As part of an overhaul of party policy, Duncan Smith has already called for a scheme of insurance and tax relief so that people will be able to keep their homes.