Gordon Brown has been accused of "breathtaking hypocrisy" after calling for schools to increase access to PE and sport, and for greater encouragement of competitive sport in schools.

Shadow sports minister Hugh Robertson rounded on the chancellor, commenting: "The irony is that it was Labour local authorities that were universally anti competitive sport."

In an interview on GMTV, Brown said that he wanted Britain to be the fittest nation in the world by the time London hosts the Olympics in 2012, and that schools should be able to offer four hours of PE and sport a week.

His comments have been attacked by commentators who argue that Labour's nine years of office have undermined these policies. Alison Moore-Gwyn, chair of the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA) says in the Telegraph: "It's a competitive world and if you don't encourage children to cope with both triumph and disaster, they won't be equipped for the world after school."

Brown has also come under fire for the government's failure to save more playing fields. Government figures unveiled by sports minister, Richard Caborn this week claim that 62 playing fields were created in 2004-5. Brown said: "We have tried to make it very, very difficult to sell off school playing fields."