Labour unveils a 'future fair for all'
Saturday, 20 February 2010 1:20 PM
By politics.co.uk staff
Labour has kicked the election campaign into high gear today with a major rally unveiling the party's new slogan.
Gordon Brown will campaign under the banner: 'A future fair for all'. He used his speech to promise to tackle the deficit while securing the economic recovery and protecting jobs.
"I know that Labour hasn't done everything right and I know, really I know, I'm not perfect," he admitted in a surprisingly frank opening.
"But I know where I come from and I know what I stand for and I know who I came into politics to represent.
"First, we must secure the recovery, not put it at risk. Second, we must support new industries and future jobs," Mr Brown cotinued.
"Third, while we will reduce the deficit, we must protect and not cut frontline services. Fourth, we must stand up for the many, not the few."
The prime minister focused his fire on the Conservatives, saying the party was stuck proposing old economic solutions.
"When you peel away the veneer and actually look at what their policies mean, what you see is not the new economics of the future," he said.
"It's the same old conservative economics of the past. They haven't moved on.
"At every stage the Tories want to kick away the ladders of opportunity, because they are not the party of Britain's mainstream majority and have policies that give most benefit for the few."
The comments are a sign that Labour believes it can still present a coherent economic dividing line with the Conservatives, despite the fact both parties want to radically reduce the deficit.
The debate over the economy was in danger of reducing itself to a disagreement over timing last week, with the Tories talking about cutting spending this financial year, and Labour urging a more cautious approach.
This afternoon, shadow chancellor George Osborne reesponded: "Gordon Brown had nothing positive or new to offer Britain in today's speech and is taking people for fools.
"He asks Britain to take a second look at Labour when the public have been looking at them for 13 years and know they have failed."
But today's speech indicates the party wants to concentrate on the different priorities and commitments the two parties will adopt while trying to reduce the budget deficit.
The rally was attended by a host of senior Labour figures, including business secretary Peter Mandelson, chancellor Alistair Darling and home secretary Alan Johnson.
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