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| 'I feel voters' hurt', says Brown | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he understands people's "hurt", in the aftermath of Labour's worst local election results in 40 years. | Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he understands people's "hurt", in the aftermath of Labour's worst local election results in 40 years. |
| Mr Brown told the BBC it had "not been the best weekend", adding that voters were worried about rising petrol and food prices and utility bills. | Mr Brown told the BBC it had "not been the best weekend", adding that voters were worried about rising petrol and food prices and utility bills. |
| "I do understand this and I feel the hurt that they feel," Mr Brown said. | "I do understand this and I feel the hurt that they feel," Mr Brown said. |
| He said Labour had to show there was a "clear and unequivocal" plan to deal with the "economic downturn". | He said Labour had to show there was a "clear and unequivocal" plan to deal with the "economic downturn". |
| Labour's poor local election results were topped by Ken Livingstone's defeat by Boris Johnson in London's mayoral race. | Labour's poor local election results were topped by Ken Livingstone's defeat by Boris Johnson in London's mayoral race. |
| 'Take fight to Tories' | 'Take fight to Tories' |
| But asked if the party could recover in his first interview after the results, Mr Brown told BBC One's Andrew Marr programme: "Of course we can recover from this position and I'll tell you how. | |
| "First of all by sorting out the immediate problem with the economy and showing people we can come through as we have in the past very difficult economic times. | "First of all by sorting out the immediate problem with the economy and showing people we can come through as we have in the past very difficult economic times. |
| My first focus and immediate priority is how we get through this difficult economic time Gordon Brown | |
| "Secondly by showing people that we have the vision of the future that will carry this country optimistically in my view into its next phase." | "Secondly by showing people that we have the vision of the future that will carry this country optimistically in my view into its next phase." |
| Various newspapers have speculated about plans to oust Mr Brown as Labour leader - but the prime minister told the BBC: "I don't believe many MPs are saying that" and said he did not accept that voters had deserted him. | |
| He said he would be "taking the fight to the Conservative Party" over the next few months, which he said was "slick" and "impressive in its salesmanship" but short on substance. | |
| Election speculation | |
| He said Labour was on the side of "hard-working families" which was intervening to try to ease problems, while the Conservatives would "walk away and leave people defenceless as they did in the 1990s". | |
| He acknowledged he had made mistakes over the decision to axe the 10p tax rate - which is estimated to have hit more than five million people on low incomes - and said he had spent "too little time" thinking about getting his message across to the public. | |
| He's a man who spent his entire life trying to get to be prime minister but doesn't seem to know what he wants to do with it now he's there Liam FoxConservatives | |
| And he admitted he had allowed speculation about a possible early general election - which he eventually decided not to call - "go too long" | |
| But he said the main problem was the "difficult economic circumstances". | |
| "People's immediate priority is how to deal with the family budgets and the problems we face as a result of what is an economic downturn which started in America," said Mr Brown. | |
| "My first focus and immediate priority is how we get through this difficult economic time which is causing, I think, so much anxiety and insecurity in this country." | |
| Earlier shadow defence secretary Liam Fox told the same programme that the prime minister had no ideas: "The government is a political vacuum. Gordon Brown is a philosophical vacuum, it appears. | |
| "He's a man who spent his entire life trying to get to be prime minister but doesn't seem to know what he wants to do with it now he's there." |