Only days after reviving Margaret Thatcher's right to buy policy in the Tory manifesto, he is now planning to win votes with a promise of cheap shares in a £10bn sell-off within a year of the General Election.

Labour put £20bn of taxpayers' money into Lloyds during the banking crash of 2008, acquiring a 43% stake. The coalition has already sold off £9bn of shares on the money markets, leaving a Government shareholding of 22%.

Senior Tories are already comparing the Lloyds sale of 2015 to the high-profile and popular "Tell Sid" advertising campaign to sell British Gas shares in the 1980s.

Announcing the move, Mr Cameron said: "The £20bn bail-out of Lloyds bank by the last Labour government became a symbol of the crisis that engulfed the British economy under Labour.

"After the public bailed it out, people feared they wouldn't see their money returned. Today they are.

"Today's announcement marks another step in the long journey we have been making repairing our banks, turning our economy around and reducing our national debt, only made possible by our long-term economic plan.

"That's why it is so important that we don't put all that progress at risk, but instead build on what we've done so we can deliver a brighter, more secure future for our country."

Under the Tory sell-off...

• The minimum investment will be £250
• The maximum purchase will be £10,000
• And there will be a loyalty bonus for people who hold on to their shares for a year

The sale will see £9bn of shares released for sale. Of those £4bn will go at a discounted price to small investors with a built in "loyalty bonus" which will see one additional free share for every 10 shares if they hold on to their shares for a year. 

 

Labour's Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie, said: "The Tories have now announced this seven times.
"They promised it before the last election and they're turning to it again just weeks before this election.

"The most important thing is getting best value for money for the taxpayer.

"That's why we have said all the proceeds from selling back the government's stakes in Lloyds and RBS should be used to repay the national debt."

 

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander also criticised the Conservatives' proposal to sell shares in the bailed-out bank.

 

He told the BBC: "This idea is one that we have looked at several times in government...and decided against, because it's not been clear that we'd be able, through this method, to get the money back for the taxpayer.

"The British people have put a lot of money and made a lot of sacrifices as a consequence of the financial crisis, and as we are able to return these banks to the private sector, people should be able to benefit.

"The point I'm making about this Tory plan is, I'm not sure anyone can have any certainty it will actually happen...unless the Conservatives are saying that they'd sell these shares even if they didn't get the taxpayers' money back, and I think that would be a highly irresponsible thing to do."

Meanwhile, the Conservatives' own share price in the opinion polls is up in one new poll and down in another.
Opinium in The Observer suggests Tory support is 36%, Labour 32%, Lib Dems 8%, UKIP 13% and Greens 5%.

But YouGov in The Sunday Times puts the Tories on 33%, Labour 36% and again Lib Dems 8%, UKIP 13% and Greens 5%
Labour have attacked the Conservatives on health, with shadow health secretary Andy Burnham claiming the Tories have a secret plan to cut nurse numbers in the NHS after the election.

The plans, according to Labour, are revealed in an official document, Health Education England's workforce plan, forecasting NHS trusts will employ nearly 2,000 fewer nurses over the next four years.

Meanwhile, just as critics claimed the Tory campaign was boring and lacks passion, Boris Johnson announced he will move centre stage this week, calling the election a "Battle for Britain" and Ed Miliband a '70s-style socialist.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, London's Mayor said a victory for Mr Miliband on 8 May would take the country back to the '70s when British industry was brought to its knees by union barons.

"I really don't think Miliband gets that," he says. "He is one of those theoretical socialists who thinks the problem with socialism is that it has never been properly tried.

"I am horrified at the idea he should be given another go. We need five more years to entrench this economic recovery, five years to take this country forwards and not backwards.

"That is the Battle for Britain next month, and one this country can't afford to lose."