Brown pledges reform, clashes on economy

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday he would overhaul a scandal-hit parliament and take more steps to secure an economic recovery if his Labour Party defies the polls and wins a May 6 election.

His plan for sweeping political reforms might appeal to the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, whose support Labour may need to form a government if it fails to secure an outright majority in what is expected to be the closest race in 20 years.

The Prime Minister said voters would be given a say on constitutional reforms in a referendum before October 2011, including changing how MPs are elected and the possibility of an elected upper chamber.

The proposals are in part a response to public disgust with politicians after many MPs abused their expense allowances by claiming money for items such as a duck house or dog food.

"I would ... take no joy in victory if it comes without a mandate to get rid of the old discredited system of politics," Mr Brown said in a speech a day after setting the election date.

Mr Brown called for parliaments to be elected for a fixed term, instead of the current system where the Prime Minister has the power to set the election date within a certain time frame.

The measures will be seen as an attempt to woo the Liberal Democrats, who have long argued for political reform, including a switch to proportional representation.

But Britain's third biggest party dismissed the proposals.

"How on earth are we supposed to believe anything that Gordon Brown says about political reform when they've done nothing for 13 years?," Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said.

Conservative leader David Cameron used a bruising parliamentary session to accuse Mr Brown of wrecking the economic recovery with plans to raise payroll taxes.

With the parliamentary chamber in uproar, Mr Brown hit back by accusing the Conservatives of putting growth and jobs at risk with their plans for public spending cuts to reduce the country's gaping budget deficit.

The economy and nurturing Britain's fledging recovery are set to dominate the election, in which the Conservatives are bidding to end 13 years of rule by Mr Brown's Labour Party.

"This Prime Minister would wreck the recovery by putting a tax on every job, on everyone earning over 20,000 (pounds a year), a tax on aspiration, a tax on every business in the country - this government would wreck the recovery," Mr Cameron said.