Brown fires starting gun for 2010 election
Updated on 06 April 2010
The party leaders begin their general election campaigns with visits to key marginals after Gordon Brown visited Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen for the dissolution of parliament.
After months of speculation, Gordon Brown named 6 May as the date of the general election, and immediately warned the electorate they would be "putting the recovery at risk" if they voted for a Conservative government.
The Tories welcomed news of a poll date, vowing to bring in "real change", while the Liberal Democrats said the election would not be the usual "two-horse race".
Speaking outside Downing Street after his visit to the Queen – Mr Brown was flanked by his cabinet as he set out Labour's themes.
"I will take to the people a very straightforward and clear message: Britain is on the road to recovery and nothing we do should put that recovery at risk," he said.
Brown told the assembled press that he came "from an ordinary middle-class family from an ordinary middle-class town" and would "fight for hard-working families".
He outlined Labour's election strategy by telling voters that his party had got the "big decisions" right and that "Britain is on the road to recovery and nothing we do should put that recovery at risk".
Parliament will be dissolved next Monday.
In anticipation of a hung parliament, the new parliament will not meet until 18 May, allowing extra time for the parties to haggle over a potential new government.
Gordon Brown, accompanied by his wife Sarah, immediately embarked on a "GB On The Road" campaign based around direct contact with voters.
He visited Rochester and Rainham in Medway, two constituencies that Labour is defending marginal constituencies from the Conservatives.
For more Channel 4 News coverage of Vote 2010
- Vote 2010: election live blog
- Vote 2010: where the parties stand
- Swinging politics: Cameron's election challenge
Tory "real change"
The Tory leader David Cameron welcomed Mr Brown's announcement of the election date, and set out his election parameters by vowing to talk to what he called "the great ignored".
Speaking to Conservative party activists near the House of Commons, he said: "If we win this election there will be real change.
"Not just a new sort of politics, not just a new sort of politicians, but a whole different way of doing things in our country.
"We're fighting this election for the great ignored - they might be black or white, they may be rich or poor, they may be in the town or country.
"They start businesses, operate factories, teach our children, clean the streets. They work hard, pay their taxes, obey the law.
"They're hard-working people, and they are desperate to know that in this great country we can still achieve great things."
Mr Cameron then travelled to Edgbaston, Birmingham, before tonight addressing a rally in Leeds.
Liberal Democrats "real choice"
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg claimed that the 2010 general election would not be the usual "two-horse race" between Labour and Conservatives as his party would offer a real choice to voters.
Speaking to workers at the Lib Dems' Cowley Street campaign headquarters in London, Mr Clegg said the 6 May poll would be "a huge, huge election" which would spell the beginning of the end for Gordon Brown.
He blamed the prime minister for "the illegal invasion of Iraq", growing unfairness and inequality, "rottenness and corruption" in parliament and the failure to regulate the banks.
Mr Clegg said: "It is a very exciting opportunity for everyone in Britain who wants fairness and real change, who wants something different.
"This isn't the old politics of a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservative Party.
"The real choice is between the old politics of Labour and Conservatives and something different, something new and that is what we offer."
He then travelled to Watford, where the party is targetting a seat currently held by Labour.
Scotland and Wales
SNP leader Alex Salmond said his party aim to win 20 seats at the election and his pledge is to "champion" the people of Scotland.
He said: "Scotland needs champions. At every level. Champions a local level and every constituency across the country.
"People to rage against the Westminster machine to speak up for the values of and views of the people. But (we need) national champions as well. People who are going to give Scotland clout in the next Westminster parliament."
Both the SNP and Wales' Plaid Cymru have experience of the type of negotiations that will take place in the event of a hung parliament.
Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones said a strong "Celtic bloc" of MPs "will give us a once in a generation opportunity to secure the best possible deal" for the people of the two nations.
Plaid Cymru's Director of Elections Helen Mary Jones said: "Westminster decides how much money there is to spend and then it's down to us in the Assembly to carve up the cake as it were.
"So while the funding for Wales is decided; while things like pensions and benefits are still decided in Westminster; it's really important for us to have a strong voice for Wales there. We're asking people to think about it this time because we think Plaid can only be that voice."
