County Hall Conservatives say they are confident of tightening their grip on power at the forthcoming county council election, saying they expect to make gains at the expense of both Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The party launched its county council election manifesto at Maidstone's County Hall on Friday in buoyant mood, saying it would fight on its track record of being one of the best-rated authorities in the country.

The Conservatives already hold 57 of the 84 county council seats and with opinion polls pointing to a widening lead over Labour nationally believe that majority will increase on polling day.

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Conservative leader Cllr Paul Carter declined to say if the party had a target but said: "The national opinion polls are of enormous significance to the outcome but I believe it is our track record of success at KCC that means we deserve to make progress at the election."

He also denied the party’s fortunes could be undermined because of the £50million KCC has tied up with Icelandic banks.

Launching a manifesto under the slogan 'Strong Leadership for Difficult Times', Cllr Carter said education and helping people through the recession were key priorities.

"We have had the best results ever in our schools this year and we want to improve on that. We want to build on our success and make sure there are opportunities to help young people in all our schools."

There would be more support to help classroom standards in primary schools improve; a trebling of the number of people on the council’s apprenticeship scheme; and a drive to reduce the number of youngsters who were neither at school nor on some kid of training programme.

The manifesto also sets out plans to continue with the authority’s huge building programme, worth £850million, over the next two years and sets out a range of commitments to improve Kent’s roads and ease congestion.