Minister urges MPs to keep faith in Brown in face of setbacks

Justice minister Maria Eagle insisted that, when it came to an election, voters would judge the party on bread and butter issues rather than the controversies which have dominated headlines over the past few months.

These include the crisis at Northern Rock, the loss of child benefit data and proxy donations to Labour.

The Liverpool Garston MP said following the Prime Minister's decision not to call an autumn election, Labour had time to focus on "the real issues" such as health and education and show it could deliver on things which matter to ordinary voters.

She accused Conservatives of trying to focus attention on political "tittletattle" to mask their lack of credible policies on key issues.

In an interview with political website ePolitix.com, published today, Miss Eagle said: "A lot of the travails that are supposedly besetting the Labour Government are certainly not the things people raise with me when I am out and about in Liverpool.

"I haven't had a stream of angry people raising the sort of things you read in the papers.

"When it comes down to it people in this country, when they come to vote, are going to be thinking about economics, about who is going to make them better off, who will make sure they are still in a job and will make sure the schools and hospitals are good and at the moment there is only one answer to those questions and that is Labour.

"So this year we have to keep our nerve, have confidence that we can go on dealing with the real issues and the events that can hit any government and get on with the job and I think we can do that."

Labour has plenty of time to restore its position in the polls by getting on with the job of governing in a competent and effective way, said Miss Eagle.

"There is going to be some time between now and the next election and we have to make sure that we are focused on delivering our promises," she said.