Countdown to elections begins

|PIC1|Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed May 6 as the day the nation will decide whether he and the Labour Party are to stay in power for another term or cede leadership of the nation to the Conservatives for the first time in 13 years.

The announcement ends months of speculation over the election date and sees Labour and the Conservatives go head to head in what is expected to be the most narrowly contested election campaign in the last two decades.

As a formality, Mr Brown asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament next Monday before officially announcing May 6 as the date for the general election.

Both parties will seek to woo electors with their visions for a stronger Britain as the nation continues to drag itself out of recession and faces the prospect of unpopular measures to reduce its swollen public sector.

The Prime Minister will attempt to convince the electorate that a change of leadership will undo the progress made in the economy’s slow journey out of recession, while Mr Cameron will argue that the time has come for change.

"The people of this country have fought too hard to get Britain on the road to recovery to allow anybody to take us back on the road to recession", Mr Brown will say.

Mr Cameron will say: "We're fighting this election for the Great Ignored. Young, old, rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight.

“They start businesses, operate factories, teach our children, clean the streets, grow our food and keep us healthy – keep us safe. They work hard, pay their taxes, obey the law.

"They're good, decent people – they're the people of Britain and they just want a reason to believe that anything is still possible in our country. This election is about giving them that reason, giving them that hope.”

To win an overall majority and avert a hung parliament, Mr Cameron must win at least 116 seats. The latest polls give conflicting indications of voters’ preferences. A YouGov poll carried out on behalf of The Sun showed the Tories to be leading at 41 per cent, followed by Labour at 31 per cent and the Liberal Democrats trailing with 18 per cent.

An ICM poll for The Guardian found the Tories’ to be on 37 per cent, a far narrower lead over Labour, at 33 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 21 per cent.

Mr Cameron has already sought to win the Christian vote with a message posted on YouTube in recent weeks in which he pays tribute to the work of Christians in their local communities.

“Wherever there is a need you are there caring for the vulnerable and helping to build a strong society. These values are at the heart of the kind of Britain I want to see today,” he said.

He spoke of his desire to see a thriving voluntary sector and promised a fair deal on grants for charities.

“Let me make it absolutely clear. That includes treating Christian and other faith-based groups fairly. I support them. I want them to go on doing what they do and they should be valued for the special ethos they bring,” he said.

His message will reassure Christians who feel they have not been treated fairly by the Labour Government, particularly in accessing funding and winning commissions from local authorities to provide social services.

On Monday, some thirty Christian leaders, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey and former Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali, issued a Christian manifesto calling on Christians to vote according to their conscience.

Mr Cameron’s message to the church is a sign that politicians are waking up to the potential influence of the Christian vote on the outcome of the election. A recent poll found that Christians are more likely to vote in the general election than any other faith group and people of no faith.

The potential impact is significant if each one of the on average 6,000 churchgoers per parliamentary constituency were to vote.