By Xinhua
London : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday ruled out a general election this autumn.
In an exclusive interview with BBC in Downing Street, Brown said “I think it is very unlikely that this will happen in the next period.”
“I will not be calling an election,” he said. “I have a vision for change in Britain and I want to show people how in government we are implementing it.”
“We could have had an election on competence and I hope people would have understood we have acted competently, but what I want to do is show people the vision we have for the future of this country in housing, health and education,” he said.
“I want the chance in the next phase of my premiership to develop and show people the policies that are going to make a huge difference and make a change in the whole country itself,” he added.
Conservative leader David Cameron said Brown had shown “great weakness and indecision,” and had made “humiliating retreat.”
Cameron had challenged Brown to end uncertainty over whether he would call an early election after mounting speculation in recent weeks.
“The reason the prime minister has cancelled this election is that the Conservative Party is making the arguments about the changes this country needs. People are responding very positively to our proposals,” the Conservative leader said.
The ICM survey for the News of the World put the Conservatives on 44 percent and Labour on 38 percent and showed the Conservatives would defeat 49 Labour members of the Parliament, including several ministers.