British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today set out a platform for his first electoral test, promising to battle to end child poverty and to shore up the U.K. economy after jitters sparked by the global credit crunch.
Brown faces local government elections in May _ his first poll as party leader since replacing Tony Blair last June.
In a speech at a party rally in Birmingham, central England, Brown vowed to raise living standards for poor families.
Brown told delegates child poverty is the scar that demeans Britain.
He said when we allow just one life to be degraded or derailed by early poverty, it represents a cost that can never be fully counted.
Some party members hope Brown may sanction a tax cut for the country's poorest families in an annual budget to be published on March 12.
Brown said only that in the "next few weeks we will move further towards our goal'' to eradicate child poverty.
In local elections last May, Brown's Labour party stumbled to a midterm slump, losing control of six councils and 237 council seats. The results were widely read as a rebuke to Blair in his final days in office.
Brown faces more council elections in England and Wales this year and a contest to elect London's mayor. Britain's next national election is due to take place in either 2009 or 2010.
The leader's reputation has been dented by problems at mortgage lender Northern Rock that prompted the first run on a British bank in a century before it was nationalized.
Northern Rock encountered problems in September when the global credit crisis left the lender without funding from short-term money markets.
"Creating and sustaining a strong economy will always be our starting point so that everyone can plan safely for the future,'' Brown said.
Brown praised his government's economic record, saying Britain had more men and women in work than at any time in history.
