On the eve of his first major test at the ballot box, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown acknowledged that he had made mistakes, but insisted he would guide the country through its economic troubles.Brown's popularity has crumbled over the past six months as the fallout of the credit crunch has damaged a reputation for economic competence built over 10 years as finance minister. The latest economic news painted a grim backdrop for Thursday's local elections. House prices, an obsession of the British middle classes, showed a year-on-year fall in April for the first time in 12 years and consumer confidence has crumbled.
Voters are also angry about changes to taxes that have left 5 million households worse off, notably the scrapping of the lowest income tax band. Brown's own Labour Party rebelled against the change and forced him to make concessions last week. "We made two mistakes," Brown told BBC radio. He said the government had not done enough to protect a group of lower-paid workers who do not qualify for tax credits, or to offset the effects of the tax change on 60- to 64-year-olds.
But said he was focused on helping Britons through an economic downturn: "My aim and my priority is that we can lead the people in Britain through this economic problem and do so by taking the right decisions to get liquidity to the banks, to make sure that the housing market starts moving again."