Brown unveils Labour's key election pledges

Gordon Brown has promised to make his government properly accountable to voters as he set out Labour's five key election pledges.

The Prime Minister acknowledged there was deep scepticism about what politicians said they would do with power.

But he insisted that his pledges were "deliverable" and that ministers' jobs would be on the line if they were not achieved.

Mr Brown pledged that Labour would:

- Secure the economic recovery and halve the budget deficit - currently £167 billion - through economic growth, fair taxes and cuts to lower priority spending.

- Raise family living standards, with low mortgage rates, increased tax credits for families with young children, helping first-time buyers and re-linking the state pension with earnings from 2012.

- Build a "high tech" economy, with support for businesses and industry in creating one million new skilled jobs and the delivery of high-speed rail, a green investment bank and broadband access for all.

- Protect frontline investment in policing, schools, childcare and the NHS, as well as a guarantee of cancer test results within a week.

- Strengthen fairness in communities through an Australian style points-based system to control immigration, guarantees of education, apprenticeships and jobs for young people, and a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

"Each is substantial, it's deliverable and it's carefully costed," Mr Brown said at a rally with Labour activists in Nottingham.

He went on: "I know that in this time of cynicism and lack of trust in politics, there are some people who will say that politicians will promise the earth but never deliver, that a pledge isn't worth the paper it is written on.

"And I understand that, but these are not general pledges without dates, without tests, without scrutiny. These are our pledges to every single citizen, tied to timetables, regular reporting and proof of performance."