Election set for 6 May as Gordon Brown pledges 'I won't let you down'

The Prime Minister confirmed that the crucial pre-election Budget will be held in a fortnight's time, on 24 March, which effectively precludes a snap, early polling day. He then turned a speech to a City audience into a politically-charged address that put the economy and his own character as leader at the heart of Labour's bid for a fourth term.

"For better or for worse, with me what you see is what you get," he said, adopting a strategy of admitting rather than covering up his perceived weaknesses while stressing other strengths. He ended the speech on an emotive note by pledging: "I won't let you down."

A 6 May election means that quarterly growth figures out 13 days earlier could become critical to Labour's success or failure. Poor manufacturing results today dented hopes they would be good news — industrial production fell by 0.4 per cent in January.

Shadow business minister Kenneth Clarke said Mr Brown had overseen "the biggest fall in manufacturing output in modern times".

The election timetable now looks set to be that the Prime Minister will see the Queen to seek the dissolution of Parliament on 6 April, the day after the Easter bank holiday, which would allow up to a week of parliamentary "wash up" when vital Bills are chosen to go through with cross-party backing. A formal campaign of just over three weeks would probably begin with manifesto launches in the week starting Monday 12 April.

Uniquely, the campaign will be dominated by three televised debates between the three main party leaders, starting with the first on 15 April. They will be tightly-controlled, lasting 90 minutes each with a dozen questions and no audience participation.

A surprise 22 April election is not impossible but it would now mean cancelling the Budget, which would unsettle the markets. Under election law Mr Brown could even wait until June but that is politically not feasible because local elections are timed for 6 May and Labour faces a pasting in town halls.

Mr Brown today argued that he had the "character" to lead Britain through to economic recovery "and now is no time to turn back".