in this country. >> david green? >> the prime minister promise with his jobs for british workers, can he confirm the latest official figures produced this morning show that the number of u.k. born private sector workers is several hundred thousand lower today than it was in 1997? [shouting] >> mr. speaker, net migration to this country has been falling as a result of actions that we have been taken. and it has fallen in the last three years. and it is falling because there are more people here locally getting the jobs that are available. and i think the conservative party should think twice about the policy on orders on migration because the very businesses they are quoting want to be able to bring people in this country to do the jobs that are necessary. we proposed the australian point of system on migration. their policy of a quarter of immigration without giving a

number would do great damage to british business. >> thank you, mr. speaker. as i know my right honorable friend is aware, the last 10 years have seen an unprecedented increase in support for science and technology in this country. but would he agree with me that now is not the time to cut investment in science research and education? for it is in these areas that we will enter our future economic success and economic growth. >> mr. speaker, record investment in education, record investment in universities, record investment in science in our country, record investment in new innovation in our country, that is the record of our labor government. and i'm proud to tell people that we are the party that supports industry in this country. >> given the allegations surrounding the council and the demand for an inquiry, the inquiry supported by the farmer

there, with the prime minister support such an investigation, or easy afraid there is something to hide? >> mr. speaker, it came down to the apartment and he spent most of his time, most of his time boating with the conservative party. he should go back to scotland. he should go back to scotland and explain why, instead of voting for jobs, he has led with the conservative party in parliament. [shouting] >> border. 10 minute rule motion. >> you've been watching prime minister's questions which airs live each week on c-span2 while parliament is in session.

>> we are in a unique position to go to war. what we need is policy makers in washington is to develop a roadmap so we can get it done. >> something about energy policy that you would like to talk about on your blog? at the new c-span video library you can search it, watch it, clip it and share it. over 160,000 hours of video. from yesterday or 10 years ago, every c-span program since 1987.

the c-span video library, cable's latest gift to america. >> at last. >> and so it begins, the claims, promises, flash photography, the stage public meetings. the performance of democracy is familiar. >> the bowlby on may 6, and today they all rushed out. the parties believe the stance of propaganda will persuade us, but what will really did the outcome? we have been on the campaign trail. >> good to see you. >> thank you. >> is anyone excited?

>> we strategist from the three main parties here and our regular ménage rate, which david frost would undoubtedly dubbed the dream team, are also on hand. >> for the last time, the tories had power. >> and they are playing with a new toy to show us how the election might turn out. >> and it looks material more red. >> and not to be missed, and exciting texture of new coverage too. >> don't risk change. we can go on as we are here and i'll be saying it is not a two horse race that none of the opening blast in the opening campaign was exactly surprising, but it wasn't that sort of a day. the crucial thing about it was at last gordon brown had named the date on which he will finally put himself and his government at the mercy of the

voters. let the baby kissing commence. in a moment we'll hear from david, who is followed david cameron to lead. michael crick on gordon brown's summaries. and the prime minister doesn't seem to regard him as a ray of sunshine. >> just after 10 this morning going brown's left downing street on the journey which he originally planned for two and a half years ago. at 20 minute audience with the queen. in which he granted him an election exactly one month from today. but then by law, neither hm 4 p.m. have a great deal of choice. so there we are, gordon brown the 11th prime minister of a queens rain out to seek his own personal mandate from the voters that the question is whether in one month and one day from now the queen will be greeting prime minister number 12.

>> outside amman peddling election, ignoring the fact it early had to pay and on the spot 30-pound fine. >> you are didn't find wants this more for advertising in the precincts. >> we will take as many fines necessary to get read of him that. >> you are lawbreakers. >> bring it on. >> back at number 10, flanked by his cabinet, gordon brown gave a hint of how labor sees its goal over the next few weeks. by akins stressing his middle-class roots. >> i come from an ordinary middle-class family in an ordinary town. and i know where i come from and i will never forget the values, taking responsibility, working hard that my parents instilled in me. >> then it was off to north can come home to a string of middle income seats which were held

last time but only by the thinnest of threads. first top rochester, and i choice perhaps or a man who sometimes has been compared with the moody figure from the novel jane eyre, a bully who is ill at ease and difficult. >> he went straight to morrison's. >> join today by partners, he met staff in the canteen, but downstairs shoppers were less impressed. >> will you be boarding for his to make certain not. >> wind not? >> because i will not. they have done terrible things for the education spend what about you, would you be voting

for mr. brown? >> yes. >> will you be voting labour? >> no. >> have you voted for labor before? >> i have not voted at all. >> our taxes have gone up. it's all right when you're up, when you're ordinary, no. >> in 2005, they saw the famous scene where tony blair was all lovey-dovey. no such duties this time as mr. brown visited a labor family at home. >> so "newsnight" ordered our own ice cream van instead. >> that one is for me, and one for gordon, please. >> gordon brown said this many of a coming from a middle-class family, it is a nice middle-class a state here. and tony blair possibly reported

that these days it can only win a general election with a significant number of middle-class votes. >> i don't think there's a lot to choose between them. >> did you use to vote labour? >> never. >> i quite like, their policies tie-in with mine. >> have you loaded before? >> yes, i have. i want to hear a bit more about their policies and i'll be watching of course in the run up. >> but mr. brown wasn't much of a hit with the folks next door. >> what do you think of him not? >> lovely. >> are you going to vote labour? >> don't know. >> so he didn't persuade you? >> no. >> as he waited for his train, mr. brown twice blanketing. are you really get started now, mr. prime minister?

at any didn't seem to state too many reporters at all today. labors plan is to have him chatting to ordinary voters face-to-face in ordinary situations. he will need to me a lot though to make a difference. >> and i have a quick word, mr. brown? >> david has been followed david cameron around, and he -- what about brown's days because i suppose it's today you would've expected. which is not surprising given lord mandelson and in charge of the campaign. went down to southern london, meeting a lot of middle-class voters those coming outside. number 10 showing the focus on middle-class. i think in campaigning style,

brown is not a blair. he is not at ease with the voters even though i think it is a bit more of that today that in the past. he does a committee with people in quite the same way. >> parliament whining up in a day or so and they agreed, they have agreed what bills they will get through the so-called washup. >> we are hearing the details of this. i don't recall this happening before. the government has before an election, the government has dropped three of its attacks measures that were announced in the budget a few days ago. the levy on the broadband lovely, the holiday tax, and also the 10% rise inside a tax would effectively be dropped. it will be dropped from the 30th of june unless parliament voted to reinstate it. so that's quite an interesting series of measures. at the same time, quite a number of other important measures have

had to be dropped in the source trading that goes on at the time of the disillusionment of parliament that the referendum of electoral reform, the alternative vote system. that has been dropped of the labor will promise to have one if it wins the election. it's propose the forms of the libel laws. they dropped those. jack straw was saying that and also might important one of the measures from the right committee, the parliamentary reform, the backbench business committee. they dropped that measure as will. >> i must ask you about when parliament is to come back, may 18? >> that's a week later than normal. they will have 12 days between the general election and parliament coming back. this was a proposal that came from the committee for years ago. they said that in peace should have more time for induction than bedding and. and, of course, it also means that if there is a hung parliament there is more time for the parties to negotiate about how the government will

work. >> thank you so much. david crossman has been following david cameron around. how is david cameron today, david? >> the conservatives and david cameron had a big challenge today which is look like they're setting the the pace when after all it was all gordon brown's initiative today. it was he who goes to the palace can he who then announces the day for the general election. the solution that they came up with, a conservative strategist came up with, a lot of photo opportunity. so at 7 a.m. we had david cameron going out with tea or coffee for photographers who were camping outside his house. a bit later he went for a bit of a job, and then a bit later on in the morning about 10:30 a.m. he actually launched his campaign. this was still a little, we have actually officially confirm the day of the election. gordon brown was still back from the palace at that point. >> did we learn anything

important at a? >> i don't think we learned anything important in terms of policy. we learned some of the things that conservatives are going to explore during this campaign. the one that a policy where today was nothing new. it was about their opposing and national insurance rise. the big thing all boils down to this, david cameron's message today that he banged on and on about was this, it is a choice when elected, do you want five more years of gordon brown, or do you want change? >> from london south david cameron has a river to cross a downing street that how wide that jernigan how fast the flow, well, we will see over the next four weeks. the war in april sunshine this morning to give the conservative leader a bit of help in his effort to set the optimistic tone. >> if you vote conservative you are voting for hope. you're voting for optimism.

you are voting for change. you are voting for the fresh start this country, our country so badly needs. and don't let anybody tell you, don't let anybody tell you that there is no real choice for this election. there is a real choice. >> mrs. cameron opted for labor again another baby due in the autumn. the future depends on the country turning away from the labour party. if he fails, it won't be because he hasn't tried. he set a furious pace today after say michigan every hand on the south bank. mr. cameron headed for birmingham. we learned a lot today about what each party considers its most attractive asset, the conservatives it was david cameron on his own. with the labor, gordon brown as part of a big experienced team. and, it was the double acts of nick clegg and his treasury spokesman. >> i think this is a real

exciting opportunity selection for us to do something different this time. you have been let down by labour for 13 years. you had conservative and labour government for its 65 years. just doing the same old thing taking its turn to make the same old the stakes over and over again. so the real choice in this election is between more of the same for labor and the conservatives, or real change from the liberal democrats. we have got to do something new this time. liberal democrats, we will clean up politics. we will deliver fairness. we will bring about that real change that britain needs. the change, the works for you. >> it's just before 6:00 and action that david cameron at least has moved on your where in the next few minutes he is about to arrive to address of rally and scientific you can see the reception committee. there are two or three seats in the me vicinity for

conservatives are hoping to pick up. but more than that it is supposed to get a message that the north of england, nowhere in fact, isn't off limits to the conservative party in the 2010 general election to. >> the crowd and supporters have to wait. >> is anyone excited? >> we are all excited. >> in modern times it hasn't been natural territory. >> know it has a bit but i think people are warming to. >> there was an american presidential see today to david cameron's opening day. the white shirt. who promised to campaign with echoes of nixon's silent majority of and remember this,. >> ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do

for your country. >> today we got not just asking what can the government do for me, but asking instead what can we all do together to meet our country stronger. and we know we need a whole new approach when it comes to the wreckage of our political system. it's not just that the expenses scandal brought shame on our parliament and our politics, bad do it was, it goes much deeper than that. it's the whole mentality of big, bossi government, take what you get from westminster, but don't actually have your own ideas about how you are governed. this party understands that politicians are meant to be accountable and honorable to people, and not the other way around. >> a bit about him, i am exhausted. and it's only day one. the conservatives will feel pretty please with how this opening day has gone, consider

this, they have been planning these events for two years. elections are not won or lost on the opening day. there's plenty more to go. and the next coming up, david cameron the most energetic, most intense 30 days of his life. >> with us now, douglas alexander, jeremy hunt. let's start off a about talk about your party. it's a one man band on the basis of today's. >> i don't think so. we saw david. is the person who has changed the conservative party. and david i think today summed up the real difference for this election is going to be about, because david stands for optimism. i think what we have from gordon brown is the pessimistic picture. he was basically saying we made the awful. i think that's probably what he

was thinking. he was also -- >> he started out the class for an all in all debates that with the we moved on from. >> this graceful conjecture leader had talking about the great ignored, which appear to include, according to him, the rich and poor, the old indian, the europe urban and rural. who is not ignore? >> i think what he's really talking about is that people are the biggest losers from the economic collapse. >> the rich and the poor, the young and the rest of? >> this rise in national insurance which is going to cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, offices with a sink they will employ fewer people if this goes ahead, that's going to affect everyone re more than 20,000. as well as the people who lose their jobs. we need to be talking about because those are the people in the end who have the most to lose. if we have five more years of gordon brown's.

>> doug alexander, his basic pages we don't want five more years of gordon brown. intraparty wins the election, would we get five more years of gordon brown? >> yes, i expect would. >> you expect him to serve a full term? >> we have a job to do. first off securing the country. and cleaning up politics that that was the central theme that gordon communicated we needed it down she's good and yet when you look at what you are offering, for example, tomorrow there will be a speech apparently promising a referendum on electoral reform and something further on reform of the house of lords. why does he need another five years to do things he has failed to deliver on some of? >> because i think most people recognize that the need for reform has only grown in the face of the expenses scandal we've seen. and yet jeremy said a minute ago, we are just a few months ago from michael gray, this very evening the conservative party failed to change by both

blocking change in terms of the democratic house of lords and voting against the removal of the hereditary principle within the house of lords. >> he had 13 years to-do. >> of course there is further change to go. that's what we're looking for a fresh change. >> it was promised 13 years ago. >> and we had greater -- >> but you haven't had a. >> than any government picked. >> you haven't done the things he promised in 1997 and that particular context. >> the fact that he is convinced that as a result of the expenses scandal and the need for fundamental change to our politics. that's why he's going to argue for that in terms of change. >> he is always banging on about electoral change. >> we could've had these things in it the last 13 years and they have completely fail. not just on the constitution reform. they fail to make this a more fair society. until recently state nor the

environmental crisis. and they completely ignored the fact that people are becoming more and more in debt and the bankers are going on getting bigger and bigger bonus is. >> what would be the price of your forming some sort of coalition ad hoc or otherwise, with the labor party thereby gordon brown? >> that's not a discussion with matt and it's not a -- >> you haven't thought about this? >> we're in this election to win more votes and more seats for a fairer britain. >> let's have a reality check you that our users is suggesting to us that you think at the end of his suggested nick clegg could emerge at as the leader of the largest parts request of course as possible. if labor -- >> that's not quite what i said that i am asking -- >> the probability is that we will not be the leader of the largest party. the probability as nick we -- >> i will return to my question.

will it be gordon brown 10? >> that's not an issue we have discussed. that's a matter -- it's a matter for the tory party. >> which is better for your party? >> we are there to make sure poor people don't have to pay tax. we are there to make sure the young people get a better investment. we will be there to make sure that we don't spoil britain's economic recovery and that would put money into jobs and making empty homes. and we're there to make sure we get the sort of constitutional reform that labour has failed to deliver. and some is want to work with us on that, we will. >> let's talk about the way this campaign looks. we have seen a number of stunts already today that party supporters are gathering around in a fateful little claque and applauding when asked to do so. all the usual stunts and tricks. let me be honest with you. do you guys really think the public believe this stuff? >> well, there is a theater in

general elections. but there's something very important going on, which is this is a process that we go through to allow people to decide who they want to govern the country. and i think that's something we should respect. >> no one is questioned the importance of the democratic, nobody does that. the suggestion is it is trivial, distorted the. >> i don't think so. >> having a reporter sitting next to an ice cream truck. there will be unprecedented opportunities for all the main public leaders to be scrutinized in this campaign, not at least because we'll have live television debates for the first time in history. there will be a genuine opportunity for an exchange about how we secure the recovery, how we protect the services, how we clean up politics spent there is one big theme we all have to face. i hope that what we will do, and

it is the first time in election campaign there, is that we reach more people. we persuade more people so there it is worthwhile. and if we do, have a close election that's likely to increase the turnout. the television debates make it. our job is to get out there and spend much more time with no cameras there, knocking on doors, talking to people outside the supermarket and making sure that more of the same of these two guys -- >> the media presence that now attends these things is actually an incumbents? >> it can be. it applies as you, if you go around doors with me, with her camera crew, people either not give you the honest answer they would like to. [inaudible] the it is not as good, but we have to open up what we're doing so the message to get across. >> you think back to 1987, you

think of the promises, the confidence, the hope, that characterizes that campaign, and no one can deny it, it was a historic victory you one. you compare that with what you're offering of stock, which is simply really cling on to something worse. spinning i think part of the problem is we see in the debate that is to just that our jobs, when this election is about the jobs of people, the livelihoods of people in this program. and the different in my junior is with the aching there is transformed what it is schools rebuilt, levels of employment. >> is about your competence, your ability to manage. what do we have to make of a government that it doesn't matter what it is reform are trumpeting a couple of weeks ago, or the great side effect to announce in the budget. each of which apparently, how can we have any confidence?

>> we have seen the biggest single decision any government has faced a. >> why have you been on the tax because i mr. mica was great because my understanding of the position is there is a cause that has been introduced this aching, but it will apply to a second finance bill in june. but is the nature is there are negotiations between all the parties. [inaudible] >> it's the nature of any that there will be negotiations involving the toys. >> thank you all very much indeed. >> well, anyone who tells you they know how this election is going to turn out has been practicing abuse. the opinion polls have shown a conservative lead of various sizes, but for a government they have never really, i'm so i can