Darling to stay on if Labour win

Gordon Brown said he would keep Alistair Darling on as Chancellor
12 April 2012

Gordon Brown will keep Alistair Darling on as Chancellor if Labour wins the general election, the Prime Minister said.

Confirmation that Mr Darling's position is safe if Mr Brown remains in Number 10 follows Wednesday's difficult last Budget before the general election.

The Prime Minister will unveil Labour's five key election pledges as the campaign moves up a gear.

According to the Guardian, they will be: to secure the economic recovery, raise family living standards, build a hi-tech economy, protect frontline investment in policing, schools, childcare and the NHS - with a new guarantee of cancer test results within a week - and strengthen fairness in communities.

Opposition parties claimed that any new pledges from Labour would be meaningless after 13 years of "failure" in office. But, in an interview with the Guardian, Mr Brown said he wanted Sir Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the world wide web, to work out how progress could be measured online.

Asked whether he would keep Mr Darling at the Treasury if Labour remains in office after the election expected on May 6, Mr Brown said: "Of course. He is doing a great job." His comments are an indication of how vital the Chancellor has become to Mr Brown. Only last year he was expected to fire Mr Darling and replace him with Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary.

The Chancellor recently complained that "the forces of hell" were unleashed against him by the Prime Minister's aides. The Prime Minister also insisted Labour could still remain in power without the support of the Liberal Democrats, claiming there was "no rebellion against collectivism in the country".

He disclosed plans to allow victims of anti-social behaviour to take out civil injunctions, funded by thier local authority, if the police do not resolve issues within a certain period.

"People have got to know if they have a real complaint they will get a fast response, and ultimately if they feel they have not been given satisfaction, they will be able to take a civil injunction themselves and that will be paid for by the authority," he said.

He also re-asserted his commitment to an elected House of Lords. Arguing that constitutional reform is vital to restoring trust in "You might have thought that after three terms of a Labour government, we would be cautious about further reform," he said. "Quite the opposite is the case."

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