British opposition leader David Cameron returned to the attack on Friday after holding fire as the government battled the financial crisis, saying it proved Prime Minister Gordon Brown's economic record was a failure. Brown, although still behind in opinion polls with his ruling Labour Party threatened with defeat at the next election, has seen his popularity rise as the government takes bold steps to stave off a collapse of the banking system.
But with unemployment soaring, worries about a deep recession are starting to dominate in voters' minds. Cameron's Conservatives are eager to rebuild their poll lead and lay the blame for the economic downturn at Labour's door.
"The complete and utter failure of their (ruling Labour party) economic record has never been more clear to see," Cameron said in a speech in London. "This crisis has highlighted just how mistaken Labour's economic policy has been." Cameron said his party had backed Brown's plans last week to recapitalise banks with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money because there was no other alternative.
"Some people think that this decision - to support recapitalisation -- means that we somehow now subscribe to the government's entire economic policy and doctrine," he said. "Let me make it crystal clear - we do not."
Latest figures show unemployment shooting up at its fastest pace since the early 1990s' recession, with the jobless rate at 5.7 percent. Inflation hit a 16-year high of 5.2 percent in September, although many economists predict this will fall.
BROWN BOUNCE: The Conservatives accuse Brown of letting government and consumer borrowing get out of hand during his decade as finance minister, before he took over as prime minister last year. They toned down their criticism of the government in recent weeks, believing they needed to support its efforts at a time of national emergency.
But the respite has helped give Brown a bounce in the opinion polls, where Labour has cut the Conservatives' lead by half to around 10 points. The Conservatives have come under pressure to tell voters how they would manage the economy better, knowing that revealing too much before an election campaign would allow Labour to hijack the best ideas.
Cameron said Britain needed the kind of responsibility in economic policy and financial regulation that only his centre-right party could deliver. The Conservatives have said they will not cut taxes if they win power in the next election - due by May 2010 - until it was prudent to do so, proposing an oversight body to ensure the public finances are kept in good health. Cameron also wants the Bank of England to have a say over how much debt banks can carry on their balance sheets.
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