Tony Blair today promised parents at a Sussex community centre he would help schools provide hot and healthy meals for their pupils.

The Prime Minister had to occasionally raise his voice above the noise of youngsters during a campaign trail visit to Broadfield Community Centre in Crawley.

He told the parents who gathered to meet him that Jamie Oliver's school dinners campaign had helped bring the issue to the public's attention. He said: "We have set aside the money for school meals but it will take some time to get the equipment in the schools as well.

"We are putting a lot of money into classrooms and extra teachers and we want to have some of that money set aside so schools can purchase equipment to cook meals on their premises.

"When buying in pre-cooked meals it is a lot harder to get higher quality. We want to train staff and dinner ladies and involve parents as well."

As he sipped from a mug of tea while fielding questions from parents, he was joined by education secretary Ruth Kelly and Crawley's Labour candidate Laura Moffatt.

Mr Blair moved on to reassure families about the future of emergency medical services in Crawley, explaining an extra investment of £19 million has been earmarked for Crawley Hospital to build an urgent treatment centre.

He said: "We intend to treat more people in Crawley rather than fewer."

The Prime Minister promised to give more support to parents and help young couples get a foot on the property ladder.

He said: "It is a desperate story.

"There's no way of dealing with this unless we can increase the supply of housing.

"We are going to build affordable housing on Government land in a planned way on derelict and brownfield sites.

"We hope to build thousands more homes using a shared equity scheme which would allow young couples to buy an stake in their home and build it up over several years.

"Taking out a mortgage on the whole price of a property is tough. House prices have risen, which is great if you are on the housing ladder but if you are trying to get on it, it is hard.

"We are not concreting over green belt land but building homes to ease pressure.

"Unless we build enough homes, the demand for them will make house prices rise."

He also promised action to help families with young children.

Mr Blair and wife Cherie mingled with children aged two, three and four as they enjoyed finger-painting.

Mr Blair read a children's story to one of the youngsters, while Mrs Blair cradled another infant on her lap.

Friday, April 15