Brown lurches from one accident to another, as car crash mars campaign poster launch

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As some of the most senior members of the Cabinet gathered in a Birmingham car park to unveil the party's last-ditch publicity drive, a Volkswagen Golf careered off the road and into a bus shelter.

The car's screeching and the noise from the impact was heard above the Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, as he was talking about Labour's commitment to "protecting our frontline services".

He kept talking, and was followed by the Prime Minister, but most of the attendant media had rushed to the nearby scene, where 27-year-old Labour voter Omed Rashid was climbing from the wreckage.

The driver escaped uninjured, but Mr Brown's latest effort to salvage Labour's campaign for a fourth consecutive term bore more than a passing resemblance to Mr Rashid's green hatchback, impaled on a bus-stop.

The chaotic events come after the Prime Minister's disastrous comments about Rochdale pensioner Gillian Duffy on Wednesday, when he was overheard calling her "bigoted".

Asked later whether the car crash was a metaphor for the Labour campaign, Lord Mandelson answered: "No."

Witnesses said the Golf was clipped by a refuse truck whose occupants had been jeering at Labour from Hockley Circus, which they and Mr Rashid had been rounding as the accident occurred.

With Chancellor Alistair Darling and deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman standing alongside, Mr Brown pledged: "We will continue to fight for the future of this country until the very last second of this election campaign."

After Business Secretary Lord Mandelson had praised his "fighting performance" in the final leaders' TV debate last night, the Prime Minister said: "The time for debate has finished. The time for decision has begun.

"When people vote next Thursday, they will know their jobs are on the ballot paper, the NHS is on the ballot paper, the future of our schools is on the ballot paper, the future of child tax credits is on the ballot paper and the future of funding policing is on the ballot paper."

Mr Brown said he was fighting for the future of tax credits, which would be cut by the Lib Dems and the Conservatives, and warned that teachers would "lose their jobs immediately" under an emergency Budget introduced by a Tory Government.

"I'm fighting for the economic recovery because I know as I see events around Europe and see how fragile economic recovery can be, that you cannot take a risk with the recovery and you've got to support the recovery in these vital months."

Voters, he said, must ask "who's best for the NHS, who's best for schools, who's best for policing and who's best for ensuring the recovery".

He urged them to join Labour's campaign to prevent the "unfairness of a Conservative Party cutting inheritance tax for the very wealthiest, while at the same time cutting child tax credits for middle-class families and schools for everyone".

Mr Brown warned the Conservatives "could thrust us into a double dip recession" with an emergency Budget.

"So when people vote next Thursday, vote for the recovery. Don't let the Conservatives risk the recovery we have fought so hard for."

Asked about the leaders' debate, Mr Brown said it had become clear last night that the economy was the issue of the election.

"The Conservatives couldn't answer the questions. They couldn't explain what their policy was on inheritance tax other than that the wealthiest would benefit.

"I think last night some of the great issues became clear. The time for the debates has past but the time for decision is beginning."

During questions from reporters afterwards, Mr Brown was asked about a leaked report suggesting banking reforms could lead to a double dip recession.

He said: "We have got to reform the banks, the banks have got to serve the public. Here in the West Midlands, businesses are telling me every day that they need a better deal from the banks and the recapitalisation of the banks and a proper system of remuneration ... is absolutely crucial to the future of British industry and the future of everybody who is a homeowner in this country.

"So we will continue our programme of reform of the banks, but differently from the Conservatives and Liberals. We are working with other countries to make sure this is internationally agreed reform."

He added: "We are taking the right decisions and the messages to the banks is they will have to pay back every single penny they have received from the Government."

It was put to him that if things stayed the same Mr Cameron was heading for Number 10.

Mr Brown said: "What I actually said (in last night's debate) was if things stay the same way then the Conservatives and possibly the Liberals could be in government in a coalition together, and I want to point out the dangers of a Conservative victory, and I want to point out the dangers of the Conservatives going into coalition with the Liberals.

"The reason is this - our recovery depends on good economic management."

Mr Brown added: "We do not want that put at risk, shrink the economy by 6 billion as the Conservatives propose ... and I think everybody knows what will happen.

"If you have got a fragile recovery, if you have got problems in the rest of Europe, then you are risking the very recovery that we fought for over the last few years."

Asked if he was attending the last meeting of his Cabinet, Mr Brown said: "All the Cabinet members here today represent areas where we are concerned about the future and want to put our case."

He added: "The reason the Cabinet is here today, members of the Cabinet are here today, is because we are all determined to fight for the future.

"We know what the future means under a Conservative government and we have a duty to point out to people, even if it means asking searching questions that they don't answer, what the threat and what the risk will be.

"I think people will decide when they ask who is best for the health service, who is best for schools, who is best for jobs, who is best for the recovery, who is best for the education of our children, they will decide it is Labour."

Earlier, Ms Harman stressed Labour's "firm commitment" to families, schools and the police.

She said Labour would "protect your local school, your police, protect the guarantee for cancer treatment, to protect the backing your family gets from child tax credits and the Child Trust Fund."

She said: "These are our firm commitments to families and this is what is at stake on May 6."

Mr Darling said: "We are offering sound judgment and a firm commitment. A sound judgment which will see this country through to securing the recovery and to jobs in the future.

"There is a choice before people next Thursday, a choice between securing that recovery or putting it at risk, taking a gamble with the Tories."

Lord Mandelson said: "I have seen and fought in many general elections, but I have never entered the final seven days of a campaign with the agenda so clear and the choices so clear for the British people.

"For that we owe a debt to the debate last night and the fighting performance of Gordon Brown.

"That choice is clear, securing the economic recovery this year so that we have jobs and growth next year and beyond.

"Protecting our frontline services, our policing, our schools, our health service, creating tax fairness, making sure that our pledges for child tax benefits and child trust funds are set against the Tories' promises of give-aways for millionaires and our support for families.

"That is the message that we take today, tomorrow and every day until polling day, to every front door and every street in our campaign, led by our leader and our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown."