LABOUR and the Tories clashed over policies for the countryside today as political parties began the last seven days of election campaigning.

Labour launched a charter for rural Wales that included the creation of a Supermarket Ombudsman to help farmers get a fair price for their produce.

But the Tories hit back over the plight of rural post offices under Labour, saying a third of branches in the countryside had closed since 1999.

With the three main UK party leaders preparing for their final televised debate, Plaid Cymru returned to the issue of public spending and the price of its support in a hung parliament.

And the Liberal Democrats hailed policies to give children a fair start in life.

Labour said it would invest in access to broadband and create a People's Bank based on the post office network.

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, who visited a farm shop in Pembrokeshire, attacked Conservative opposition to an order that would hand the Assembly Government new powers over housing, including the ability to scrap council tenants' right to buy.

"There is a clear choice for the people of rural Wales on Thursday May 6,’’ he said.