Blair: We must offer hope at polls

The Prime Minister is expected to announce the date of his departure from Downing Street shortly after the May 3 polls.

But he insisted his enthusiasm for plugging his party's achievements was still as strong as when he fronted his first such campaign 12 years ago.

Chancellor Gordon Brown - Mr Blair's most likely successor - will appear beside him at a launch event amid ongoing controversy over his changes to pensions tax policy.

There is concern among grassroots activists that Labour is heading for a bloodbath in the local elections - fuelled by voter unhappiness over Iraq and the cash-for-honours affair. Elections for the Scottish Assembly and Welsh Assembly will also be held on May 3.

A poll of Labour council leaders last month found a majority wanted the PM to say when he would quit before polling day and more than four in 10 wanted him out before May 3.

In an e-mail to activists to mark the start of the campaign however, Mr Blair stressed that Labour had a record in local government "in which we can take real pride".

"We have made communities more secure, wealthier, fairer and, I hope, happier," he wrote.

"What the public wants to know is that we have the determination, the policies and the ambition to keep improving their lives.

"They are looking for optimism and hope from Labour. We should give it to them. We are a party who has achieved so much and have even more to do."