Inverness, Scotland - British Prime Minister Tony Blair hit out at Britain's main opposition Conservatives on Friday, accusing them of sowing pessimism across the nation while planning massive cuts in public spending.
Speaking at the Scottish Labour Party conference in Inverness, Blair accused the Tory party of reviving hardcore Thatcherite values, saying: "It must never get its hands back on Britain's future."
"We should be optimistic about Britain's future," said Blair, who is likely to call an election in the first half of 2005.
"If there is one fact which sums up the scale of our achievement, it is surely this - this Labour government is responsible for the longest period of peacetime growth since records first began in 1870 - 130 years ago."
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| 'We should be optimistic about Britain's future' |
Blair's speech to Scottish Labour faithful dwelt on economic growth, Labour's record since it took power in May 1997 and the danger of a Conservative comeback under its new leader Michael Howard.
He sidestepped the furore that began on Thursday when former cabinet minister Clare Short alleged that British intelligence had bugged United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run-up to the Iraq invasion.
His speech in Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands, also steered clear of Iraq and the failure to discovery any weapons of mass destruction after the United States and British invasion that overthrew Saddam Hussein.
Scotland is a stronghold for the Labour party, with several of Blair's most senior cabinet ministers - not least Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown - coming from Scottish constituencies.
The Conservatives, trying to rediscover the glory years of the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher was in Downing Street, have been trying to win back support with pledges of tax cuts and less government bureaucracy.
But despite a slump in Blair's popularity after the Iraq war, the Tories still lag behind Labour in the opinion polls, with the Liberal Democrats in third place. - Sapa-AFP
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