Britain will hold a national election May 6, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Tuesday. The bitterly contested race will be dominated by a recession-wracked economy and a sense that 13 years of Labour rule may be coming to an end. Brown met with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace to ask her to dissolve Parliament, marking the start of the general election campaign. Parliament will shut down next Monday after concluding business. Brown, who has never won a national election as leader of his party, has a difficult task ahead, with Labour Party trailing in opinion polls and Britain's economy still fragile after the worst recession in decades. Britain's opposition Conservatives _ the party of former Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill – hope to win a national election for the first time since 1992. Brown's Labour Party is as much as 10 points behind the Conservatives and their articulate leader David Cameron in some opinion polls. But an unusual electoral map means the outcome of the election is still uncertain. Britain's struggling economy and enormous debt will dominate the election campaign.
