Britain’s two main parties were turning their fire on the smaller Liberal Democrats (Lib Dem) in the general election race yesterday after a huge surge in their support shook up the campaign.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the governing Labour Party was to try steering the debate onto the economic recovery and away from the rise of the Lib Dems.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Conservatives were busy warning that a vote for the Liberals meant five more years of Brown, thanks to the first-past-the-post electoral system.
Brown, battling to avoid an end to 13 years of Labour rule, said he had lost Thursday’s television showdown against Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and Conservative chief David Cameron, at least in terms of presentation.
But he told BBC television the debate would move to “who’s best to equip our country for the future,” as he played up his credentials.
“Once it’s focused on the economy in particular, I think people will see that we’re creating out of recession, growth,” he said on Sunday. “The Liberals have got to be exposed.”
“The Liberals will come under major pressure, but I think so too will the Conservatives. It’s about policy in the end, it’s about substance,” Brown said.
As Brown was due to focus on the economy yesterday, Clegg was to spend the day campaigning in south Wales, outlining plans to create a new economy based on green jobs.
“This week I will be focusing on the most important issue of all in this election: how we can build a new economy from the rubble of the old,” he said.
Cameron was due to speak on his “big society versus big government” theme of putting more power in people’s hands.
For his part, Clegg said he welcomed extra scrutiny.
“If this election is a contest of ideas and not a contest of advertising budgets — of policy over posters — then it will be a massive win for the Liberal Democrats,” he said.
Weekend surveys showing a huge rise in support for the Lib Dems were backed up yesterday by a YouGov poll in the Sun newspaper.
The daily survey put the Lib Dems ahead, up three on 33 percent, the Conservatives down 1 percent to 32 and Labour down two on 26.
However, a side poll found that 48 percent knew little or hardly anything about what Clegg stood for, compared with 38 percent for Brown and 31 percent for Cameron.
Cameron said that voting for Clegg meant more of Brown as Labour could likely end up with the most seats, despite falling short of a majority.
“It is the Conservatives who offer decisive change — anything else and you risk being stuck with what you have got,” he told the Guardian newspaper. “I am sure plenty of other people will now scrutinize Liberal Democrat policies in huge detail.”
“What I want to do in the remaining 18 days of this campaign is to make the case for a different prime minister for Britain,” Cameron said.
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