Draft plans for the next Liberal Democrat manifesto have been accidentally emailed to Labour members of the Welsh assembly.

The details were then passed on to the media in a move that is certain to embarrass Lib Dem chiefs.

The document confirms that the party is prepared to scrap the New Deal employment scheme, the entire Department of Trade and Industry and Child Trust Funds.

Lib Dem spokesmen sought to play down the leak, saying the document was just "a draft discussion document".

Lembit Opik, the party's Welsh affairs spokesman, admitted the disclosure of the document was "sub-optimal".

He added that the party would be "having some conversations" to work out what went wrong.

Opponents

The leak was seized on by the Lib Dems' opponents.

"This document confirms the Lib Dems have no idea how they will pay for their long list of spending commitments," said Labour chairman Ian McCartney.

"It also shows that Charles Kennedy is secretly planning to axe the new Child Trust Fund and return Britain to Tory levels of unemployment by axing the New Deal.

"Charles Kennedy should now come clean on his private plans to hit hard working families."

And shadow transport secretary Damian Green said the document showed the Lib Dems planned to "pile even more burdens on hard-pressed British motorists with the
extension of congestion charging to other towns and cities".

"Motorists already pay more than their share through high fuel duties and road taxes. It is insulting to suggest they should be expected to pay even more," he added.