The Labour Party swiftly put its economic record at the heart of its re-election campaign yesterday as an opinion poll suggested it could win power again with an even bigger landslide than in 1997.
The NOP poll suggested Mr Blair would increase his 1997 parliamentary majority of 179 to more than 250 in the 659-seat parliament in elections.
The poll for the Daily Express put Labour on 51 per cent, the opposition Conservatives on 31 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 13 per cent.
In a speech in London, Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Gordon Brown stressed that economic stability would not be put at risk although more than £50 billion would be pumped into schools, hospitals and transport.
"We will stay the course of economic stability because it is the foundation of everything we do - stability yesterday, today, and tomorrow," Mr Brown declared.