David Cameron launched the Tories “Fighting Crime and Grime” local election campaign yesterday by shovelling dirt and picking up litter.

The Conservative leader said that he was “sweeping away Labour” as he picked up chairs, bottles and bricks at the fly-tipping site in Dartford, Kent, a top Tory target. Clad in corduroy jeans and trainers with green laces Mr Cameron joked that clearing up rubbish was a lot more meaningful than Prime Minister’s Questions.

The stunt was quickly dragged into controversy, however, when the Dartford Labour group accused Mr Cameron of breaking election rules by posing with council workers and there were allegations that the Tories had deliberately placed the rubbish on the site for a publicity stunt.

In the 25 days before an election, councillors and council officers are banned from using town hall facilities or resources to promote parties. A spokesman for the council said that the use of the Clean Kent street cleaners had been approved by Tory-controlled Kent County Council.

Jeremy Kite, the leader of the council, vigorously denied the suggestion that the rubbish had been planted, but admitted that council workers had collected rubbish from a 20m radius on the same site and piled it in a heap before Mr Cameron’s arrival. “But I can tell you 100 per cent that the rubbish was on that site and was not brought in,” he said. “In fact, we left it there a day longer than it should have been because we knew Cameron was coming.”

He arrived for his 30-minute visit in a minibus emblazoned with the words “Vote Blue, Go Green” and donned blue plastic gloves to pose for the cameras.

Dartford council is led by a coalition between the Conservatives and the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Assocation. The Tories, with 21 seats, are the largest party and need two more to take control.

Mr Cameron chose Dartford as the launch site not only for the council elections but to build up support for the next general election. Labour still holds seven parliamentary seats in Kent and five have a majority of less than 1,000.

Howard Stoate held Dartford for Labour by only 706 and the Tories hope that a victory in the council could bring off a parliamentary win. They also want to wipe out the last of Labour’s councils in the South East. Despite Labour’s success in winning swaths of councils in the region just before it took power in 1997, it now controls only a handful.

Dartford and neighbouring Gravesham, two of the Tories’ top target seats for the local elections on May 3, are both seen as bellwethers for the general election. Dartford Tories, confident of victory, are slowly embracing David Cameron, with the candidates wearing hoodies and bluetooth earpieces, but some of the residents have not been won over.

Brian Baldwin, 71, a Tory waverer, said that he was not sure about Mr Cameron. “I haven’t made my mind up. I am not sure about him. I haven’t really warmed to him.”

Robin William, 53, a paramedic for 34 years, will never vote Tory. “They ruined the NHS, they took it to pieces, they privatised it, which caused MRSA. Maggie destroyed the the NHS.”

In Gravesham, where the Tories narrowly won the parliamentary seat in 2005, the party also needs only two seats to topple Labour, which has been in power since 1995.

Adrian Warburton, chairman of the Conservative Association in Gravesham and candidate for a council seat, said that if Labour voters stayed at home and turnout were low the Tories would romp home. He said that Labour activists had been thin on the ground largely owing to disaffection with Tony Blair.

In Singlewell ward, a housing estate with mixed council and private homes, there is little enthusiasm for Labour or Mr Blair but little knowledge either or Mr Cameron.

Alan Roland, 43, a van sales rep and former Labour supporter, said he had switched to the Tories. “I used to support Labour in the 1990s but over the last few years I have become more antiBlair,” he said. “The party has lost the plot.”

Dartford and Gravesham

— In Dartford, a Tory-led minority administration since 2003, the Tories have 21 seats, Labour 16, the Swanscombe and Greenhithe Residents Association and Independents 7

— In Gravesham, Labour, which has held the council since 1995, has 23 seats and the Tories 21. The Liberal Democrats have no seats on either council

— Howard Stoate held the Dartford parliamentary seat for Labour in 2005 by 706 seats

— Adam Holloway gained the Gravesham parliamentary seat for the Tories in 2005 by 700 votes

May 3 local elections

— 10,450 town hall seats up for election

— The Tories are forecast to win 600 and Labour to lose 600

— The Lib Dems could lose up to 100

Times Recommends

• The bright side of this winter rain
• Story behind the picture: Snow Leopard, 2008
• Times Charity Appeal: The Place2Be