WILLIAM Hague visited Bolton on the day the government and the Tories clashed on the merits of the New Deal scheme.

The Conservatives revealed they would replace it with a "Britain Works" alternative if they won the next election and pay private contractors a fee to take on an unemployed person and a success fee if they found them a job.

Here in Bolton the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, wrote in the BEN that New Deal had helped more than 1,000 youngsters from the area find jobs -- halving the number out of work for six months or more.

When I put this to Mr Hague he was not impressed. He said employers claimed many of the young people would have found jobs anyway and that others were not sustained. "What matters is creating sustained employment," he added.

The new system would be based on the "America Works" programme in the US and would be more effective and cost-effective than the New Deal.

"There is no doubt, judging by international experience, that we can do better than New Deal," Mr Hague said.

How much would be paid to private contractors who found jobs in the "Britain Works" scheme? "That's down to the next level of detail," he said.

He was also no fan of the government's Regional Development Agencies, such as the one charged with re-vitalising the North-west. "I think a lot of money is wasted in bureaucracies," he said.

He felt resources should be concentrated in areas which needed them rather than spread nationwide.

My last question was simple: "Are you going to win the next General Election?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied. "We are ready for it, whenever it is."