BRIGHTON (AFP) - Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown vowed to promote economic rigour and stability at the annual Labour party conference, warning against "irresponsible" pre-election promises.
Brown will set the tone for the economic side of Prime Minister Tony Blair's electoral campaign in a much-awaited speech in this southern English seaside resort.
Labour launched its conference on Sunday by signalling the start of an active pre-electoral period.
Party chairman Ian McCartney told the assembled members: "This week we take the next steps on our journey towards a historic third term of Labour government" after the victories of 1997 and 2001.
Most political observers expect general elections to be called in the spring of 2005.
In line with tradition, Brown will deliver a speech on the economy the day before Blair's keynote address.
"We will never be complacent about stability, we must show at all times we have the discipline and strength to take the tough long term fiscal and monetary decisions for Britain," the chancellor was to tell delegates according to official extracts from his speech.
"Facing a global recovery that is uneven and is still fragile, where oil prices have doubled and imbalances have worsened, I will tell the G7 and IMF when I travel to Washington later this week that we will take no risks with inflationary pay deals and from this chancellor and this party no short termism. No easy options, no irresponsible pre-election promises."
Brown will say he wanted to achieve a "British progressive consensus, much more than a set of individual policies announced by politicians, but a set of beliefs that come to be shared by the British people, that Britain can lead by example as the first country of the global age where prosperity and justice advance together."
The party had sought Sunday to centre debates on domestic policy and the coming elections, but the uncertain fate of British hostage Kenneth Bigley in Iraq threatened to overshadow efforts to rally the party faithful.