Eric Pickles begins his teatime Election report....

Throughout the General Election campaign the Tory Chairman will be blogging reports from CCHQ.

Hope you had a break over the Easter holidays (I suspect not). Here at CCHQ it is just like any ordinary day before the start of a the most important general election in a generation – full throttle and ready to go.

Difficult to believe it but Labour seems determined to fight the election on the “Jobs Tax”, their increase to National Insurance. They think everyone is out of touch except them, it matters nothing that they are hard pressed to find anyone who employs people to agree with them. When they are making such a poor fist of it, it seems almost bad manners to discourage them.

We are committed to prevent this tax on jobs being implemented in full; it threatens employment as we come out of the recession.

We launched our new poster on the threat to the recovery this morning outlining Labour's big boot ‘more debts’ and ‘jobs tax’ plans to stamp out any green shoots of recovery. The models from the launch are propped up outside my office (see photo), reminding everyone that Mr Brown must get his best walking boots on tomorrow and visit the Queen to seek permission of the dissolution of parliament.

Eric Pickles