Party leaders go head-to-head
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and opposition leader David Cameron braced yesterday for their final parliamentary clash before the May 6 election as campaigning gathered pace.
After Brown finally called the election on Tuesday, party leaders wasted no time in hitting the campaign trail in what is expected to be one of the tightest election races in decades.
Brown's centre-left Labour party is battling for a historic fourth term against Cameron's centre-right Conservatives, who have seen their double-digit opinion poll lead shrink in recent weeks to just a few points.
The two men were to go head-to-head in the House of Commons for the prime minister's last weekly question and answer session (PMQs) before parliament is dissolved Monday.
The economy is shaping up to be the key election battleground as Britain tentatively emerges from a deep recession, and Brown repeated his claim Wednesday that the Conservatives would threaten the recovery.
Brown attacked their plans to scrap planned rises in payroll taxes as unsustainable given Britain's deficit of 167 billion pounds (254 billion dollars, 188 billion euros).
"Britain is on the road to recovery. Now don't put that at risk. The Conservatives' policy will take six billion (pounds) out of the economy," he said in a television interview.
Cameron is expected to attack Labour's tax plans in a visit to businesses in the northwest of England and Wales later Wednesday, highlighting how they will "kill economic recovery", a party spokesman said.
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