Prime minister Gordon Brown said today the opposition Conservatives would wreck Britain's economic recovery if they won the general election expected in a few weeks' time.
The centre-right Conservatives hit back, saying that if Britain did not act fast to cut its gaping budget deficit, it could face the same fate as debt-laden Greece, hit by high borrowing costs and widespread strikes.
Mr Brown, whose Labour Party is behind in the polls but narrowing the gap with the Conservatives, set out five pledges for an election that he said could shape the country's future for decades.
"Britain faces the biggest choice for a generation," he told Labour activists at Nottingham University's futuristic "innovation park" in central England.
"Securing the economic recovery or wrecking it -- that is the choice the country will face in the weeks ahead," he said.
Mr Brown said Labour would secure the economic recovery, halve the deficit, protect key services, build a high-tech economy and create a million skilled jobs if it won a fourth term.
Conservative leader David Cameron, speaking in Milton Keynes in central England, said the biggest risk to the economy was taking too long to tackle the deficit. Labour plans to halve the deficit in four years but the Conservatives want quicker action.
"Look at what has happened in Greece. They have huge debts, a smaller budget deficit than us ..., but they are seeing their interest rates rise, they are seeing strikes on their streets, they are seeing their economy going backwards," Mr Cameron said.
"If we don't act, and act soon, the same could happen to us," he said.
Mr Brown is widely expected to announce the election date within the next 10 days, with May 6th the likely polling day.
He has pumped money into the economy to counter Britain's worst recession since World War Two, creating a huge budget deficit of around £167 billion this year, equal to 12 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said Labour, which won three successive elections under his predecessor Tony Blair, would invest to help the economy and accused the Conservatives of risking wrecking the recovery by planning premature cuts in the deficit.
Mr Brown said if he won the election he would set out a public "annual contract" for each new cabinet minister and their jobs would depend on delivering the goals set out in them.
The government set the stage for the election this week with a budget that promised a £2.5 billion package to boost growth, higher taxes for the well-off and lower borrowing than predicted three months ago.
Mr Brown told the Guardian newspaper today he would keep Alistair Darling as finance minister if he won the election, quelling speculation that he would replace Mr Darling with education minister Ed Balls, a close ally.
Angus Reid, the Canadian pollsters, said only 22 per cent of the 2,000 respondents in its latest survey were confident the budget would promote economic recovery.
Thirty-nine per cent thought Mr Cameron would find the right solutions for the economy, against 28 per cent who thought MrBrown would do so, it said.
Reuters