Brown misses his last big chance

None of the three party leaders, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown, would say where the savings axe would fall

David Cameron emerged from Thursday night’s showdown television debate as the clear election frontrunner, after Gordon Brown failed to grasp his last big chance to claw his way back into contention.

Instant polls concluded that the Conservative leader won the third and final leaders’ debate with Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrats leader, again performing well and coming second in most polls; Mr Brown trailed in third place.

Mr Brown’s warnings about the fragility of the economy and the risks posed by Mr Cameron to the recovery were poorly received by viewers of the BBC leaders’ debate in Birmingham. “He was too negative,” admitted one Labour official.

Meanwhile Mr Cameron was in combative form as he attempted to deliver a knockout blow to Mr Brown, whose campaign was rocked this week after he described a widow as “a bigoted woman”.

“The economy is stuck in a rut – we need change to get it moving,” Mr Cameron said. He said the Tories would cut the deficit, tackle excess in the banking sector and create a fiscal framework to boost manufacturing.

For Mr Cameron the debate was a chance to convince voters he can be prime minister and he delivered a pugnacious performance, particularly in feisty exchanges on immigration. “We have got to get a grip on numbers,” he said.

With polls finding more than one-third of voters still undecided, Mr Cameron has the key advantage of momentum going into the final week of the campaign, while Mr Brown’s re-election bid has stalled.

The prime minister’s team saw the Birmingham debate as a crucial chance to focus voters on the economy but admitted there was no breakthrough. Peter Mandelson, Labour’s campaign chief, did not linger long to brief the media on the positive aspects of Mr Brown’s performance.

After a weak start, Mr Brown became more sparky as the debate evolved, trying to persuade voters not to risk a weak recovery with a Tory or Lib Dem government. “Things are too important to be left to the risky policies of these two people,” he said.

Mr Brown claimed credit for “stopping a crisis becoming a calamity”, adding: “I know how to run the economy in good times and in bad.” But his closing message failed to display much optimism about Britain’s future.

Mr Brown admits that he and Labour are facing “the fight of our lives”; polls suggest there is a real risk of the party finishing third in the election behind the Liberal Democrats.

Last night Mr Clegg attempted to convey a seriousness of intent to persuade voters that he had a coherent plan for the economy. Urging voters to follow their “instincts”, he added: “Don’t let anyone scare you.”

Mr Clegg, eyeing his party’s best election performance since 1923, focused on Liberal Democrat plans to break up the banks, scrap most bank bonuses, and his plan to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000.

The £163bn deficit was a central theme throughout the debate, with Mr Brown and Mr Clegg arguing that the Conservatives would be reckless to withdraw £6bn from the economy this year through a new programme of savings.

Although all claimed to be upfront about the scale of the problem, none of the three leaders was prepared to give more details of where the axe would fall.