Brown makes fighting unemployment a priority

By Keith Weir

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown set out plans to tackle youth unemployment on Monday in a programme for the final months before an election that could end the Labour Party's long grip on power.

Brown pledged 1.5 billion pounds to boost the supply of low-cost housing and a 150-million-pound fund to encourage investment in areas like biotechnology and green industries.

The prime minister is seeking to revive his poll ratings less than a year before a parliamentary election that the centre-right opposition Conservatives are tipped to win by a big margin.

"We are determined to take forward the reforms of the last decade," Brown told parliament.

"Our task after three terms in office is not merely to defend Britain's achievements over the last decade, but to work even harder so as to meet new challenges with the same sense of conviction."

All the main parties have been damaged by a scandal over MPs' expense claims but Labour, in power since 1997, has been hardest hit because it presided over a discredited system.

The election is likely to be dominated by debate over how to curb a budget deficit that will reach 175 billion pounds this year, more than 12 percent of gross domestic product, after the government moved to prop up banks and boost spending in the wake of the global economic recession.

"DREAM WORLD"