I believe we can be confident about the prospects for recovery in the next year for Britain and the world.
We are putting in place now the building blocks for future recovery by investing in families, jobs and in the key sectors of the economy.
So, we are giving real support to all when it is most needed - not tax cuts for a privileged few. We are bringing forward investment - not cutting services in the middle of a recession. And we will stand by those who are worried that they could lose their homes or jobs - not walk on by.
To help families get through this year, we are giving a £145 tax cut to 22 million basic rate taxpayers from April, boosting child benefit, helping pensioners with an extra £60, and increasing pensions, savings and child tax credits all above inflation.
We are determined to help people keep their jobs and their homes. We will not walk on by as the Conservatives did in the last recession. That is why we are investing £5 billion in measures to support people who lose their jobs. Plus we are delivering extra investment in skills and a new package of support for homeowners to help them hold onto their homes, even if they lose their jobs.
Despite the downturn, we are continuing to raise standards in schools and hospitals and police. But now more than ever we have to get value for money for the taxpayer in our public services so that we can continue to improve them to world class levels.
We know that this global crisis needs a global solution -more trade abroad means more jobs at home. That's why, alongside President Obama and other world leaders, we agreed the Global Plan for Recovery. Like our national plan, the aims of this global plan are clear: to rescue the savers from the banks; get lending going again; stimulate our economies; and provide real support to families and business.
I know that Britain faces other challenges too - in our communities, not just in our economy.
But I believe there is nothing wrong in Britain today that cannot be put right by what is good about our country. We need to support the millions of British people who make Britain work - like the three-quarters of the people in this country who regularly volunteer - so instead of talking Britain down, we should be proud of our talent and nurture their potential. You don't help communities that are under pressure by saying you want to hug them one day and then cutting their support the next.
Any attempt to cut our way out of this recession not only devastates our public services but will simply lead to the recession being deeper and longer. That is why we must grow our way out of this recession while setting out sensible and fair ways of paying our way once the economy is back in shape again. We win our future not by retreating from Europe but by engaging with it; by tapping into the talents of our people, not by writing them off.
This is what I believe in - helping the many, not just the few, and never walking on by when people need you to stand by them.
So, if you share these values too, then vote Labour on June 4 and help us win the fight for Britain’s future.
The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP,
Leader of the Labour Party