TV debate between political leaders

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - The leaders of the three largest political parties met in the third and final live televised debate on Thursday before the May 6 parliamentary election.

Following are some of the key quotes from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative leader David Cameron and Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats.

CLOSING STATEMENTS:

BROWN:

"Things are too important to be left to risky policies under these two people. They are not ready for government because they have not thought through their policies."

We are desperate to get this country through the recession and into the recovery and that is what I intend to continue to do, but it's up to the people to decide."

CLEGG

"Don't let anyone scare you from following your instinct...together next week we change Britain for good.

"We can do so much better than that this time.. I can guarantee I will work tirelessly to deliver fairness

"I believe all this can happen. This is your election, this is your country. When you go to vote next week, choose the future you really want. Together we will really change Britain. Don't let anyone tell you it can't happen."

CAMERON

"If you vote Labour, you're going to get more of the same. If you vote Liberal, it is just uncertainty. If you vote Conservative on Thursday, you can have a new fresh government making a clean break and taking our country in a new direction and bringing the change that we need."

ON BANK REGULATION:

CAMERON

"It is completely unacceptable what has happened and we need to grip it very, very hard to sort this out for the future. The first thing we need to do is actually to regulate these banks properly.

"We would give back to the Bank of England the power to regulate banks ... including having a big say over the appalling bonuses that have been paid.

"The next thing we need is a bank levy. And we say don't wait for the rest of the world. Put that levy on now to get back money from the banks that so many people have had to put in. We also want to see the banks lending again, particularly to small businesses.

"And retail banks ... should not be behaving like casinos."

CLEGG

"It sounds draconian but I think it is now necessary, we should say no bonuses whatsoever for the directors of banks and board level."

"By all means pay them lots of money, give them a fancy membership of a golf club, but don't give them these bonuses."

"That's specific. That's tough. But it will finally uproot this outrageous abuse of bankers' bonuses."

BROWN

"I have never been so angry as when I talked to the chairman of the bank who told me the night before his bank that he had a cashflow problem when I knew it was a structural failing that was absolutely fundamental."

"We need to recapitalise the banks so that they are safe for people.

"What we have then got to do is make sure that remuneration is fair. We do need a worldwide agreement to get a global financial levy that is charged in every country ... but I will say to these bankers we will never allow them to act in an irresponsible and unfair way again."

ON RECOVERY/DEFICIT

BROWN

"Let us not make the mistakes of the 1930s, 1980s and the 1990s...Don't withdraw the support from the recovery until the recovery is assured."

CAMERON

"The risk to the recovery is not cutting waste, the risk to recovery is putting up national insurance...roll up your sleeves now so we can get started now."

"The whole reason we're having this debate about how difficult it's going to be to get taxes down, cut spending is because this prime minister and this government have left our economy in such a mess with a budget deficit that this year is forecast to be bigger than that of Greece"

CLEGG

"We are not going to be able to fill this black hole unless we do it with fairness."

OPENING STATEMENTS:

CAMERON

"Our economy is stuck in a rut and we need change to get it moving.

First we have to reward work and tackle welfare dependency. Second, we've got to fix our banks. Tax them to get our money back, regulate them and get them lending again.

Third, we've got to start making things again in this country. Fourth, we've actually got to get value for money in our public services.

With Greece so much in the news, I can guarantee you that I'd never join the euro and I would keep the pound as our currency."

CLEGG

"We need to do things differently, to build a new stronger, fairer economy. The way they got us into this mess is not the way out.

We need to be frank about the cuts that will be needed. we'll need to break up the banking system so that irresponsible bankers can never again put your savings and your businesses at risk.

We have to rediscover our passion for innovation and buildings things, not just placing bets on the money markets.

They'll tell you tonight that these things can't be done. I'll tell you things have to be done differently. I think you've got to do things differently.

BROWN

"There's a lot to this job and as you saw yesterday I don't get all of it right.

"But I do know how to run the economy in good times and in bad. When the banks collapsed I took immediate action to stop the crisis becoming a calamity and the recession becoming a depression."

"As we meet tonight, economies in Europe are in peril and there is a risk of dragging us into recession."

"I'm determined that nothing will happen in Britain that will put us back in that position."

"Support the economy now and you will ensure that there are jobs and a recovery.

Shrink the economy now as the Conservatives want to and they risk your jobs and living standards and tax credits."

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan, Sumeet Desai, David Milliken and Keith Weir)