London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday vowed to fight on to lead the "first Labour government of the new global age" after general elections next year. In a morale-boosting speech to delegates at the annual Labour Party conference in Brighton, southern Britain, Brown set out a programme of political reform and insisted that he was the right man to lead Labour into a fourth term of office.
"This is not the time to give in. This is not the time to give up, but the time to win for Britain," he said.
Brown said Britain was facing "the biggest choice of a generation" when voters with voters being called upon to decide between a Labour Party offering "prosperity and hope" and the "right wing ideology" offered by the Conservatives.
"The election to come will not be about my future - it's about your future ... your country," said Brown.
Hailing his own successes in tackling the banking crisis in Britain a year ago, Brown pledged to curb future excesses in the banking sector, to increase taxes for big earners and to protect middle and low income earners from global market forces.
"Only a year ago, we were looking over a precipice as banks teetered on the brink of failure," said Brown. Since then, the "decisive and immediate" action taken by Group of 20 (G20) nations had saved 15 million jobs around the world, he said.
Labour would always choose to help the hard working majority, and not the privileged few. "We have changed the world before, and we are going to do it again," he said.
Brown also pledged that Britain would write into law the promise to spend 0.7 per cent of its national income on aid to poor nations.
"Others may break their promise to the poorest of the world, but Labour never will," he said.
The keynote speech was preceded by renewed doubts over Brown's leadership from critics inside the party and by opinion polls showing that its fortunes are in decline.
An opinion poll published Tuesday showed that Labour has slipped to third place in the ranking of Britain's main political parties.
The Ipsos Mori poll put Labour at 24 per cent, the opposition Liberal Democrats at 25 per cent and the bigger opposition Conservative Party at 36 per cent.
A general election is due in Britain by June 2010. It is largely expected to end 13 years of Labour rule begun with the landslide victory of former prime minister Tony Blair in 1997.
The latest poll is the first ever to show Labour taking third place in the ranking of the three main political parties.
It compares with a survey last month which gave the Tories 43 per cent, Labour 26 per cent and the Liberal Democrats 17 per cent.
Tuesday's poll confirmed his low personal popularity rating. It showed that 41 per cent believe Conservative leader David Cameron would make a competent prime minister, while 24 per cent wanted Brown and 16 per cent said Liberal leader Nick Clegg would make a good prime minister.
