ED Miliband will today put Labour on a General Election footing, telling the party's staff that it is winning the battle of ideas with the Tories and that Labour's message to the electorate will be - "choose hope over fear".

Launching the party's "war-room", the Labour leader will set out plans to shake up the Opposition's electoral strategy by using US-style techniques and putting social media and grassroots work at the centre of the campaign.

He will say: "I don't just want to win this election for Labour, I want to win it for Britain; and I know we all share that spirit. It will shape the way we campaign."

Mr Miliband will seek to inspire Labour workers by insisting that the party's cause is right and that the hopes of millions of ordinary people battling a cost of living crisis rest on their shoulders.

"Two months ago, David Cameron and George Osborne were warning that a Labour Party that wanted to fix broken markets and build an economy, which works for working people, was flirting with Communism and being inspired by Das Kapital," the Labour leader will say.

"This week, George Osborne has finally followed our lead on pay day lending and declared, with a straight face, that he now believes markets must be made to work for people, even while he and David Cameron still refuse to take on the big six energy companies.

"Be in no doubt: we are winning the battle of ideas, the Tories have no answers. They will always stand up for the privileged few."