POLITICAL parties are gearing up for the General Election expected in May.

And a minor skirmish has already broken out in Worcestershire in the election battle which is set to be unleashed.

Mid-Worcestershire Tory MP Peter Luff has accused local Liberal Democrats of pinching the constituency map from his website for theirs. He has bashed out an e-mail to point this out.

I was delighted to see that you consider the map of my constituency that I had designed for my local literature and my website so good that you have chosen to use it on the Mid-Worcestershire Liberal Democrat website, he taunts.

I believe in helping voters to have access to all the information they need to make a judgement on the choices they face.

But he adds: I also believe in the principle of respect for copyright in intellectual property.

I am therefore delighted to give you permission to use my map although you have never sought it.

But the Tory MP insists that he would like a credit for the map to "appear alongside it in a prominent position".

He suggests:Map reproduced by kind permission of Peter Luff, MP for Mid-Worcestershire (Conservative) will do nicely.

And an appropriate contribution to a couple of local charities would be nice too.

Shall we say £50 each to the National Canine Defence League at Wickhamford and to the Friends of Evesham Community Hospital?

Maureen Martin, secretary of the Mid-Worcestershire Liberal Democrats, was unaware whether Mr Luff's map was on her local party's website.

But she was not about to agree to his requests.

We don't think he has got copyright on maps for the constituency, she says.