LONDON, Oct 7: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown defended his decision not to call a general election this year in an interview broadcast on Sunday, as reaction indicated his honeymoon had ended with voters.

Brown’s announcement on Saturday that he would not go to the polls as early as Nov 1, saw him accused of weakness and indecision as well as fear, after new opinion polls suggested his governing Labour Party’s lead had evaporated.

But Brown, who had enjoyed a bouyant ratings ‘bounce’ after succeeding Tony Blair in June, said he was not running scared simply because one poll suggested the government would lose its parliamentary majority based on the results.

The prime minister also said a general election in either early or late 2008 was unlikely.

In theory, he has until May 2010 at the latest to go to the polls.

He said he had considered holding an election this year, and claimed Labour would have won “today, next week or the weeks to come”, but decided it was better to give voters time to see his long-term ‘vision’ for the country.

“It’s not likely that we’ll have an election... not likely this year, whatever the dates you were suggesting,” he told BBC television, whose interviewer asked if he was considering a vote in spring or autumn 2008.

“I think the important thing is that we get on with the business of change in this country because people do want change and I am responding to that demand,” he added.

An ICM/News of the World poll of 83 key marginal seats published on Sunday suggested the main opposition Conservatives were six points ahead and an early vote on those results could see the government’s 69-seat majority disappear.

Two other newspaper polls put the Tories ahead of Labour, attributing the reverse to leader David Cameron’s well-received party conference speech Wednesday and headline-grabbing tax reform proposals.—AFP