UK's Brown makes pitch to revive electoral hopes

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to restore voters' faith in government and curb the excesses of the financial markets in a major speech Tuesday aimed at staving off an expected defeat at the next national election

Brown, who must go to the polls by June, sketched out a manifesto for the looming election with a blizzard of populist ideas in an address to an annual rally of his governing Labour Party _ including plans to allow Britons to recall lawmakers who breach rules.

Labour has trailed behind the main opposition Conservative Party in opinion polls for more than a year and appears certain to lose power for the first time since 1997 at an election likely to be held in May.

The leader, whose conference slogan is "Operation Fightback," has pinned his hopes of a comeback on plans to curb youth crime, improve treatment for cancer sufferers and hold a referendum on major changes to Britain's electoral system.

"We can build a new economy which tames the old excesses. We can meet and master the challenge of an aging society with a national care service, we can in this generation be the first to beat cancer, we can transform our politics," Brown told delegates gathered in the southern England seaside resort of Brighton.

In a final conference speech before Britain's next election, the 58-year-old Scot sought to inspire activists with well received plans to halt the introduction of unpopular national identity cards, and to increase state pension payments.

Brown said that, following a scandal over lawmakers' excessive expense claims, communities would have the power to recall and sack errant legislators. He also pledged a referendum on changing how Britain elects its lawmakers.

Despite praise overseas for his handling of the financial crisis, Brown's domestic standing has been dented in recent weeks. Critics have taken aim at his meekness in the face of U.S. anger at the release of the Lockerbie bomber from a Scottish jail, and his reluctance to quickly acknowledge the necessity of cuts to public spending to reduce Britain's spiraling government debts.

Even Brown's key Cabinet ally, the influential business secretary Peter Mandelson, said the leader must show more "razzmatazz," to entice voters disillusioned with his leadership.

An Ipsos MORI poll published Tuesday put Brown's Labour in third place for the first time since 1982 _ behind both the opposition Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

The Conservatives, who are widely expected to win power at the next election, had 36 percent, the Liberal Democrats had 25 percent and Brown's Labour had 24 percent. Ipsos MORI interviewed 1,003 people by telephone between Sept. 25-27, no margin of error was given, but in samples of a similar size it is plus or minus 3 percentage points.