Labour leader ED Miliband has launched his party’s general election campaign in Salford - strongly hinting at a tuition fees shake-up if he takes power.

Mr Miliband told activists to ‘watch this space’. He used the address to attack the Conservatives’ record in government, claiming they had created a nation of ‘food banks and bankers’ bonuses’.

The general election will be about ‘two competing visions’ for the country, he said. “A Tory plan that believes we can succeed with just a few at the top doing well, or a plan – Labour’s plan for Britain’s future - that puts working people first,” he said.

His speech - to Labour supporters, councillors, parliamentary candidates and MPs - did not make any new policy announcements but did suggest a reform of the current tuition fees system could be on the cards.

Before Mr Miliband took to the stage, a university student had addressed the audience, hitting out at the fact her £9,000-a-year university fee provided her with just four hours of teaching a week.

Asked in a question-and-answer session afterwards whether Labour would make a pledge on the issue before the election, Mr Miliband said: “I’d say watch this space. We will have a proposal on that.

“I think what’s most important on in this area, above all others, is to make sure we have a costed and credible plan and that’s what we’re going to do.

“We are not going to make the Nick Clegg mistake making promises we can’t keep. But we will have more to say between now and the election about that.”

Mr Miliband’s election launch was met by a forceful counter-attack from the Tories. As his speech in Salford drew to a close, the Chancellor George Osborne - flanked by senior ministers - held a press conference in which they released an 83-page dossier alleging Labour had made more than £20bn in ‘unfunded’ spending commitments.

Asked about that by the M.E.N. Mr Miliband said he had not seen the dossier, but declared the allegations ‘nonsense’.

He said: “I’ll tell you why it’s nonsense...We’ve said what no other opposition has ever said - which is that we want the Office for Budget Responsibility to audit our plans.

“There can be nothing fairer than that and there can be no unfunded commitments in our manifesto.”