After Polls Dip, Blair Defends Labor Party and Fuel Tax, Admits Dome Missteps

No date has been set for the next general election in Britain, but Prime Minister Tony Blair delivered a rousing appeal for a second term Tuesday after a slew of opinion polls showed his Labor Party trailing the Conservatives for the first time since he took office.

In the past two weeks, Blair has been buffeted by fuel protests that nearly shut down the country, demands for higher government pensions from some of his supporters, and public anger over the money-sucking Millennium Dome. His party has been riven by bickering, and an old campaign contribution scandal has come back to haunt him.

Blair sought to put all of that behind him in Brighton at his party’s annual conference, responding to charges that he is out of touch with a mixture of apology and attack on the Conservative Party, or Tories.

The prime minister acknowledged that his government had “taken a knock” in the eyes of the public, but he issued an impassioned, 55-minute defense of his record on the economy and public services that left him drenched in sweat.

“Yes, there are things we have done that have made people angry, and we should be open enough to admit it,” Blair said at the start of what had been widely regarded as the most important speech of his administration.

But he said he has listened to the public and learned from his mistakes, and added, “The last thing this country needs is a return to Tory government.”

Blair’s troubles began earlier this month when farmers and truckers protesting the high cost of fuel blockaded oil refineries, halting gasoline deliveries across the country. The protesters drew widespread public support, but with supermarkets running out of food, schools closing and hospitals calling for help, they ended the blockades and gave the government a two-month deadline for lowering fuel taxes.

The prime minister said he would not be bullied into lowering taxes before the next budget in April, and support for Labor fell to between 2 and 8 percentage points behind the Conservatives, trailing for the first time since a May 1997 election brought Blair to power.

The prime minister did not budge on fuel taxes Tuesday. He pointed out that while gasoline taxes are lower in the rest of Europe, sales, income and business taxes are higher in those countries.

“I am listening to people’s anger over fuel duties. For [truckers], farmers, to say nothing of ordinary motorists, there is real hardship,” Blair conceded. “But I have also had to listen over underfunding in the National Health Service, over extra investment in schools, over more police on the beat, over public transport.”

On the heels of the gas crisis, Blair’s government sheepishly announced that it will have to spend an additional $68 million to keep the tottering Millennium Dome afloat long enough to seal a deal with a private buyer. The tented amusement center in Greenwich, which was meant to be the cornerstone of the government’s lottery-funded millennium projects, has failed to draw the crowds necessary to make it financially viable, and the government has been accused of throwing good money after bad.

In addition to private investment, the dome cost about $600 million in public lottery funds to build. An additional $250 million in public subsidies has been approved since completion.

“If I had my time again, I would have listened to those who said governments shouldn’t try to run big visitor attractions,” Blair admitted.

He also told retirees that they were justified in their anger over last year’s miserly increase in government pensions and noted that Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has promised they will get more next time.

He referred warmly to Brown, with whom he has been seen to be at odds lately, and portrayed the squabbling Labor Party as united on policy, if not entirely on personalities.

But contrition soon turned to attack as Blair lit into the Tories. He lauded his own achievements on the economy--low mortgage rates, along with reduced unemployment and inflation--and said the Tories would cut government spending on key services. Blair promised more spending on education, computer training, transportation and cancer treatment in a second term.

Conservative Party leader William Hague responded that Blair had given empty promises. The speech, he said, was “a mix of the usual ‘new Labor’ cocktail: meaningless statistics that cover up a comprehensive failure to deliver.” On fuel taxes, he added, “he showed no sign of having heard a thing.”

Before his troubles began, Blair had been expected to call elections next May and slide easily into a second term. Now some observers suggest that Blair will wait longer for his spending on public services to become more apparent. He is required to call a vote by May 2002.

Blair made no mention of the other issue tarnishing his image lately. A book by commentator Andrew Rawnsley published last week asserted that Blair and Brown had lied about their knowledge of a $1.7-million campaign donation from Formula One racing entrepreneur Bernie Ecclestone ahead of the 1997 election.

The Labor Party returned the donation after an uproar over a surprise government decision to exempt Formula One teams from a ban on tobacco sponsorship of sports.