The Liberal Democrat Election campaign touched down in Yeadon today.

Just two days after top Tory Michael Portillo tucked into fish and chips at Guiseley's Harry Ramsdens restaurant, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy flew into Leeds-Bradford airport to give his party's campaign a "flying start" in the region.

But Mr Kennedy did not use the visit to meet voters in nearby Bradford or Leeds. His short visit, sandwiched between news conferences at Manchester, Glasgow and Newcastle, was confined to the airport itself.

Mr Kennedy was here on day two of his three-day flying visit tour of Great Britain, where he is meeting the Press and local party members in 12 cities.

Mr Kennedy attacked both the Conservatives and Labour, saying their plans for tax and public spending did not add up.

He said his tour was aimed at addressing the Westminster-centric bias of politics by taking his party's message out to every part of the country.

Commenting on Bradford's £200 million private education partnership, he said: "Local education authorities are being forced to consider difficult political decisions because of the sheer constraint on finance and the single most important thing Westminster could do is dedicate more resources and investment to the problem."

He said his party's priority would be for high-quality comprehensive education for all, adding: "The events in Bradford show that in many parts of the country that's no longer a viable option - the answer is not dismissing 'bog-standard comprehensive schools' but to raise investment and standards in the state sector."

Speaking about last week's announcement that Saltaire-based Pace Micro Technology was to close its manufacturing plant with a loss of 470 jobs, he said: "It's yet another example of the hammering that our manufacturing industry has been taking because of the strength of the pound."