Brown's novices warning on economy

The three leaders shown on a big screen close to where the election TV debate was held
12 April 2012

Gordon Brown warned that his "novice" rivals could not be trusted to run the economy as he vowed to fight "as though my life depended upon it" to secure the return of a Labour government.

After Thursday night's TV debate, when he likened David Cameron and Nick Clegg to his young sons squabbling at bath time, the Prime Minister he insisted that only he had the experience to secure the recovery.

However, he was forced again to defend Labour campaign leaflets warning that the Tories planned to cut benefits for the elderly - claims angrily denounced as "lies" by Mr Cameron.

The Conservatives today stepped up their demands for Labour to withdraw the literature which said the Tories would axe benefits such as winter fuel payments, free bus passes and TV licences.

At a news conference a Labour Party headquarters in London, Mr Brown seized on official figures showing the economy grew by 0.2% in the first three months of the the year to declare the "recovery is definitely under way".

He made clear that he intended to make his experience a key factor in the final two weeks of campaigning before polling day on May 6.

Labour's campaign supremo Lord Mandelson mocked Mr Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne as "just a couple of kids in short trousers", while Mr Brown dismissed Mr Clegg's plans to scrap Trident and grant an amnesty to illegal immigrants as the "height of naivety".

However, shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said that Labour had "forfeited the right to govern" through their use of scare tactics to misrepresent Conservative policies.

"These lies you are getting from Labour are pure and simple lies. I have seen these lies and they make me very, very angry," he told a news conference at Conservative headquarters in London.

Mr Clegg said the second television debate - held in Bristol - had left the election race wide open, declaring: "All bets are off."

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