British Prime Minister Tony Blair put economic well-being at the heart of Britain's election campaign yesterday as he unveiled pledges on policy to his Labour Party's last conference before an expected May vote.

Betting the country's economic stability and prosperity will carry him to victory, Mr Blair promised improved public services and safer streets and borders under a third Labour term.

"This country has moved forward, moved forward in terms of jobs, moved forward in terms of stability," Mr Blair said at the end of a whistle-stop helicopter tour of Britain replete with campaign razzmatazz.

"Forward not back, the biggest choice any country will ever face," he told Labour's rally in Gateshead, northern England.

Known around the world for his support of US President George W. Bush over the Iraq war, Mr Blair will cut down on diplomatic globetrotting in the coming weeks to woo voters.

Polls put Mr Blair on track to win a third term but his closeness to Bush is deeply unpopular among many Labour voters and the party faithful are still bruised over Iraq.

At Labour's spring conference - meant to rally the party prior to a formal election campaign - Mr Blair referred to "difficult decisions" in the past.

But Mr Blair has economic stability as his trump card.

The government touts the longest period of continuous growth on record - 50 successive quarters - and Britain's low interest rates, inflation and unemployment as proof they are the best stewards of the world's fourth largest economy.

"Your Family Better Off" was the first of six pledges unveiled by Mr Blair in London earlier yesterday, standing alongside Finance Minister Gordon Brown in a show of unity.

The intense rivalry between the two is well documented, with Mr Brown seen as Mr Blair's likely successor.

The opposition Conservative Party says Mr Brown has over-borrowed, kept taxes too high and failed to turn round Britain's creaking public services despite massive spending.

Conservative chairman Liam Fox said the six pledges Mr Blair was making in carefully .choreographed events - covering health, education, childcare, immigration and crime - were "utterly worthless" given past broken promises.

"Whatever Tony Blair says today, why should anybody believe a single word he says?" he asked.

"On the economy, he says that people are better off - the truth is we have had 66 tax rises and the average family has to pay an extra £5,000 in tax under Labour."

Polls make grim reading for the Conservatives. The latest survey on Tuesday had Labour extending its lead to 41 per cent, ahead of the Conservatives on 32.

But Mr Blair could still prove vulnerable to the Conservatives on issues like asylum, immigration and crime while Labour could also suffer if apathy keeps supporters at home, analysts say.

Mr Blair scored landslides in 1997 and 2001 after wooing Britons fed up with 18 years of Conservative government.

Labour shed many of its leftist trappings and shifted to the political centreground to convince the cautious middle classes it could be trusted with the economy and people's taxes.

The prime minister must name the election date and ask Queen Elizabeth to dissolve parliament about a month in advance.

Asked about the widespread assumption of a May 5 poll, Mr Blair said yesterday: "I can't tell you that because I don't know it."

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