Hollande hits back at Sarkozy on security François Hollande has accused President Nicolas Sarkozy of failing to live up to law-and-order promises as the French election campaign becomes increasingly bitter. The Socialist presidential candidiate is fighting to regain the initiative after the terrorist drama in Toulouse last week. The run-up to the first round of voting on April 22 is set to prove a gruelling test for Mr Hollande, whose long-standing lead in the opinion polls is under pressure from both Mr Sarkozy and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the candidate of the hardline Left Front. Highlighting the rising tension, Mr Sarkozy was quoted as calling Mr Hollande "nul" (or "useless") in a Le Monde magazine profile. "He's no good and it's beginning to show," said the president. Mr Sarkozy scents a breakthrough - buoyed by a poll showing 74 per cent support for his handling of the crisis over the killing of three Jewish children, a Jewish teacher and three Muslim paratroopers by the self-styled Islamist terrorist Mohamed Merah, who later died in a shoot-out with police. The president piled on the pressure at the weekend, reiterating his accusation that his Socialist rival was soft on security issues. Mr Hollande, campaigning in Corsica, went on the counter-attack. "On the question of security, [Mr Sarkozy] has missed his targets on violence against the person, which has increased, he has reduced the number of police and gendarmes by 10,000 posts, and urban districts lack the means to counter gangs," he said. Pointing to Corsica, the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte which is plagued by mafia violence, he said: "There have been, over the past five years, 20 murders a year here. . . In 2011, there were 22 murders and 16 attempted murders - a record in France and in Europe. And they try to give us lessons on security. The Toulouse incident has proved awkward for Mr Hollande, sidelining him at a crucial moment in the campaign as Mr Sarkozy's bold handling of the crisis has taken centre stage. He is keen to move the focus back onto key economic issues. But he has been forced to come out fighting on security, with Mr Sarkozy working hard to keep the issue at the top of the agenda as long as possible. Jean-Michel Baylet, a Toulouse native and leader of the Radical Left party, a Socialist ally which rules Corsica, insisted the Toulouse shootings had not changed the course of the election in Mr Sarkozy's favour. " "I haven't heard of a single person who is going to change their vote because of Toulouse," he said. Since the Socialist primaries, public order and security have been at the heart of our proposals. In his manifesto earlier this year, Mr Hollande included promises to increase police numbers and measures to reinforce the battle against delinquency and drug dealing in France's deprived suburbs. "We are not afraid of this issue," said Vincent Peillon, a member of the European parliament and Mr Hollande's education strategist who accompanied him to Corsica. Sarkozy has been in charge of security for five years and it has not been a great performance. But we don't want to stay exclusively on this subject. There is no doubt that Mr Hollande has been put on the defensive by events of the past week. Mr Sarkozy is now running neck-and-neck with him in the polls for the first round, and the gap between them has narrowed for the second round on May 6. Part of Mr Hollande's reverse is a loss of support in the first round to Mr Mélenchon, who was placed third in one poll last week, with 14 per cent, overtaking Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front. Mr Hollande's aides say he will not change direction. But he may need to come up with another eye-catching proposal - like his 76 per cent marginal tax gambit last month - to force a change of subject. Mr Hollande desperately wants to shift the debate back onto issues such as unemployment, which is close to 10 per cent of the workforce, purchasing power and a housing shortage. Pre-Toulouse surveys showed these were bigger concerns for voters than security and immigration. Above all, Mr Hollande continues to bet that Mr Sarkozy's unpopularity will carry the former to victory. Mr Mélenchon's advance is worrying, however. Mr Hollande signalled this on Sunday at a harbourside breakfast with local supporters in Bastia. It is the first round that injects momentum. We must win," he said. But even if he falls behind Mr Sarkozy in the first round, his camp hopes that it will not make much difference in the final showdown, which most polls show Mr Hollande still leading - some by double figures. "The total left vote is going up as a result of Mélenchon's increase," said Mr Peillon. To have a candidate so far ahead for the second round a month before the first is unprecedented.