Brown: 'Novices' cannot be trusted with economy

Gordon Brown today warned that his “novice” rivals could not be trusted to run the economy as he vowed to fight “as though my life depended upon it” to secure the return of a Labour government.

After last night’s TV debate, when he likened David Cameron and Nick Clegg to his young sons squabbling at bath time, the UK Prime Minister he insisted that only he had the experience to secure the recovery.

However, he was forced again to defend Labour campaign leaflets warning that the Tories planned to cut benefits for the elderly – claims angrily denounced as “lies” by Mr Cameron.

The Conservatives today stepped up their demands for Labour to withdraw the literature which said the Tories would axe benefits such as winter fuel payments, free bus passes and TV licences.

At a news conference a Labour Party headquarters in London, Mr Brown seized on official figures showing the economy grew by 0.2% in the first three months of the the year to declare the “recovery is definitely under way”.

He made clear that he intended to make his experience a key factor in the final two weeks of campaigning before polling day on May 6.

“I believe that there is one leader in this campaign with the experience, the judgment, the record and the team to be trusted with the recovery at this uncertain and fragile time,” he said.

“That is why I will fight as though my life depended upon it to win the argument and to win the support needed to get a majority Labour government, the one that Britain needs to secure the recovery and take our country forward.

“Leadership I have found is being steady under fire. It is about getting the big calls right. Novices cannot today be trusted with the economy.”

Labour’s campaign supremo Peter Mandelson mocked Mr Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne as “just a couple of kids in short trousers”, while Mr Brown dismissed Mr Clegg’s plans to scrap Trident and grant an amnesty to illegal immigrants as the “height of naivety”.

However, shadow children’s secretary Michael Gove said that Labour had “forfeited the right to govern” through their use of scare tactics to misrepresent Conservative policies.

“These lies you are getting from Labour are pure and simple lies. I have seen these lies and they make me very, very angry,” he told a news conference at Conservative headquarters in London.

Mr Cameron who raised the issue in the angriest exchanges of last night’s debate, said that Labour should now withdraw the leaflets – including one issued by by Mr Brown’s parliamentary private secretary Jon Trickett.

“I’m frankly pretty angry about it, because I’ve been seeing these leaflets for a long time and they really are appalling,” he said.

“There was even one that said pensioners would lose their passports. I mean it’s just not right, and I’m pleased I was able to make the point because it’s been making me extremely angry seeing what was being done.”

Mr Mandelson, however, hit back accusing the Tories of hypocrisy and insisting that Labour was entitled to raise the issue as there was no commitment in the Conservatives’ manifesto to maintain the benefits.

“Now if these things are absent from the manifesto, it is our duty to highlight them and to ask questions at TV debates,” he said.

“That’s exactly what the Prime Minister did last night – if David Cameron wants to make policy up on the hoof under pressure as he did, fine – victory for G. Brown, bad night for D. Cameron.”