Gordon Brown has placed himself at the centre of Labour's election campaign with a pledge to create a million new homeowners if the party wins.

Labour wanted to create a "home-owning, wealth owning, asset-owning democracy" in Britain, the chancellor said.

He also pledged to build 15,000 starter homes on former NHS sites in England.

The Tories said Labour had knocked a generation off the housing ladder. The Liberal Democrats said the plans were "hopelessly unambitious".

The chancellor said he wanted to raise the level of property ownership from 70% to 75%.

This was achievable because of economic growth, a £5bn cut in spending on unemployment and a £5bn cut in the amount paid on debt interest payments, he said.

"The question people will want answered during the next few weeks is which party is going to take forward the economic stability and growth that has given us the lowest interest rates and inflation for more than 40 years?

"I believe that when people look at the Labour record ... they will decide it is too big a risk to go back to the party that created 10% inflation, 15% interest rates, negative equity and mortgage re-possessions."

As he made the announcement alongside Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, Mr Brown unveiled a new campaign poster warning voters not to put their mortgage at risk by voting Conservative.

More in tomorrow's Northern Echo.