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Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to begin to outline plans to win back British voters' support after his Labour Party suffered its worst local election losses in four decades.

While he blames the ballot-box setback on fallout from the U.S. housing slump, some allies say Brown's problems run deeper than the slowing economy.

“The idea that this is a response to the international credit crisis is not realistic,'' Graham Stringer, a Labour lawmaker representing a seat in Manchester, said in an interview. “The government does not have a clear message.''

Speaking yesterday on the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Andrew Marr show, Brown wasn't specific about what measures he'll put to Parliament later this year in the final legislative package before the next national election. He'll discuss some of the measures in a speech to executives in London tomorrow.

“We've got a clear and unequivocal sense of direction when it comes to dealing with the economic problems ahead,'' Brown said yesterday. Voters “want to know that we've got a plan for the future of this country that can unlock the talent of the British people.''

Britain's economy will grow about 1.6 percent this year, the slowest since the last recession ended in 1992, according to the International Monetary Fund. Banks choked off mortgage lending after the subprime mortgage market in the U.S. collapsed last year, ending a decade-long boom in house prices. Brown already has identified the property market as a focus for his government.

`Danger' for Brown

“If things carry on as they are Labour is going to lose the next election,'' Roger Scully, professor of politics at Aberystwyth University, said in an interview. “There is a danger that Brown will launch some rather ill-conceived initiatives to capture the agenda.''

Voters on May 1 ousted two-term London Mayor Ken Livingstone in favor of Conservative Boris Johnson. His campaign focused on concerns that crime was a growing problem, even though police say reported incidents have fallen. In elections the same day for 4,000 local council seats in England and Wales, Labour suffered a net loss of 331 seats and the Conservatives picked up 256.

“It's not been the best weekend,'' Brown told the BBC. “Of course we can recover, first of all by sorting out the immediate problems in the economy, second by showing we have the vision for the future.''

`Under Pressure'

Arguing that governments worldwide are “under pressure'' because of rising food and fuel prices and a global surge in credit costs, Brown said he had no plans to step aside as Labour leader and prime minister, saying he is “the best person to take the country through these challenges.''

Describing himself as “resolute and determined'' with the “conviction and ideas'' to take Britain forward, Brown said the focus would now turn to the opposition Conservatives' policies overnight payday loans.

“If we're the underdog, we're certainly fighting, and we're fighting hard,'' Brown said.

Brown has one last full legislative year to push his program through Parliament before the middle of 2010, when he must hold the next general election. Brown will give hints about the measures planned by the end of next month, and Queen Elizabeth II will announce the final program in October or November.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband suggested the party's problems went beyond the economy, telling BBC Radio 4 the government needed to communicate a “compelling national mission'' to the country.

`Mission' for Labour

“People want to know in a downturn that the government is on their side,'' he said. “We've got to show them that we're a good government, and we've got to show them that we've got big ideas for taking the country forward.''

Some Labour lawmakers said Brown's focus must be broader than the current economic slump. It's “patronizing'' to think “people are so stupid that they will blame the hurricane on the skipper,'' Bob Marshall-Andrews wrote in the Sunday Telegraph. “In adversity, most passengers cleave to a popular captain.'' Others say it's the government's own policies and not the economy that are to blame for Labour's losses. The Treasury's decision to eliminate the lowest 10 percent tax bracket, hurting 5.3 million households, cost many votes last week, according to Gwyn Prosser, a Labour member of Parliament.

“The Labour vote has collapsed, and that is down to the fiasco of the 10 pence tax,'' Prosser said in an interview. “It's recoverable, but we need to demonstrate more competence across government.''

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