[Al Arabiya Latest] Britain will vote in a general election on May 6, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Tuesday, firing the gun on what is set to be the closest poll race in nearly 20 years.Brown made the announcement in Downing Street flanked by his entire Cabinet after visiting Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth II to issue a royal proclamation dissolving the current parliament. "It will come as no surprise to all of you, and it's probably the least well kept secret of recent years but the queen has kindly agreed to the dissolution of parliament and a general election will take place on May 6," he said.
Gordon's hoping he's gonna pull it off. The opposition's trying to help him, but the voters still have a little bit to say about it.
| I just want to know how large a share the anti-immigrant party will get, because if it's substantial the national conversation will have to change. |
In a well-trailed contest likely to be dominated by the economy, Brown, 59, is contrasting his role in steering Britain to economic recovery after the global financial crisis with what he says is 43-year-old Cameron's inexperience.
"Fresh start"
Cameron, who has extensively modernized the once pro-market party of Margaret Thatcher since taking over as leader in 2005, called it "the most important general election for a generation." Speaking shortly before Brown, he said Britain needed a "fresh start" and told supporters: "If we win this election, there will be real change."
"Change you can believe in!"
Cameron's Conservatives had established a long-term double-digit lead over Brown's Labor before January's announcement that Britain had emerged from its worst recession since World War II. That then dropped away to single figures but has begun to widen out again in recent days.
A survey for the Daily Express newspaper Monday gave the Tories a commanding 10-point lead, which could give them a majority in the Commons.
But in a sign of the variations in opinion polls, a survey for the Guardian newspaper the same day showed Labor closing the gap, just four points behind Cameron's party.
Whoever wins faces having to tackle a crippling budget deficit of at least 167 billion pounds ($254 billion, 188 billion euros) and a fragile economy which some experts say could still dip back into recession.
Brown is fighting his first general election as prime minister, having taken over unopposed from Tony Blair in June 2007.
The Conservatives need a huge swing of 6.9 percent to secure victory -- equivalent to the landslide which swept Labor led by Blair to power in 1997.