Shadow chancellor George Osborne told BBC radio that the Conservatives were "the progressive force in British politics now" because only they were truly committed to the privatisation of public services.
He called for an end to the "state monopoly" on free education, claiming that sending profit-hungry privateers into
Mr Osborne declared: "It is the Conservatives, as the progressive force in British politics now, who are thinking seriously about how you change the way you deliver public services so that they can improve the quality of service delivery even in a period of budget restraint."
The top Tory went on to praise Sweden and the US for part-privatising their education systems, a decision which he claimed had led to better contracts for computers, textbooks and land and lower overall costs.
But National Union of Teachers general secretary Christine Blower pointed out that "the privatisation in
"No-one - least of all a teachers' union - would want to see cuts in the education service budget, but increasing the use of the private sector is not the answer," she said.
"Education should be for the benefit of children and not for the benefit of shareholders and company proprietors.
"There is no evidence that private companies provide a better service, as we have seen from the academies programme that already exists."
Public-sector union UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: "Once again, the Tories aim for a soft target.
"Instead of tackling the real culprits who reap huge rewards for failure, they turn their guns on the very public services that people rely on to get by in the recession.
"Shadow chancellor Osborne's claims to have 'progressive' ideas are nothing but cheap window-dressing."
Mr Prentis cited today's UNISON-commissioned survey, which showed that the British public support keeping their services under public control.
