Prime Minister to put economy centre stage
The Prime Minister today will foreground his party’s economic success under Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown at the Scottish Labour conference in Dundee.
Looking to make “credibility” a pivotal issue in the pre-election campaign, Tony Blair will say Labour has “the right stuff” for Britain to deliver sustained economic growth in an historic third term of office.
Labour sees its record on the economy as a clear election winner.
Mr Blair will contrast Labour’s record with the “boom and bust” years of John Mayor’s government that oversaw “sky-high” levels of unemployment, interest rates, mortgage rates and home repossessions.
He will tell delegates they face “a fight for the future” in terms what kind of country, society, economy” Britons want.
Mr Blair will attack the Conservatives’ historical opposition to the national minimum wage, the New Deal and the Bank of England’s independence.
Ina bid to win over more left-wing rank-and-file members, Mr Blair underscore his party’s determination of full employment in Britain.
“We have shown that when it comes to economic competence it is Labour not the Tories who have the right stuff,” he is expected to say.
“Labour is today the party of economic credibility. This is the biggest single strategic shift of my political lifetime.
“As a Government we are right to claim the ‘success’ of economic stability but the economy is made up of millions of hard-working people in thousands of companies making billions of decisions that take our country forward.”
The general election is widely expected to be called for May 5.
The Scottish conference comes ahead of the Mr Brown’s Budget on March 16.
Mr Brown will speak on Sunday.
