Make a clever choice, Cameron tells voters

London: David Cameron will tell voters they face "make your mind up time" as he tries to use the Tories' shrinking poll lead to warn that Britain could sleepwalk into another five years of Gordon Brown.

Today he will frame the imminent general election as a "real choice" between more of the same under Labour and the prime minister or change with the Conservatives. He was also expected to set out six key areas where voters can expect "immediate" change at his party's spring conference in Brighton.

Cameron will attempt to reprise the famous speech with no notes that won him the party leadership five years ago as he seeks to calm jittery activists and lawmakers ahead of the poll that is expected to take place on May 6.

Wife's comment

On Friday night, his wife Samantha made her first political remarks to date when she was asked whether her husband would win the election. Speaking as she opened a new NHS ward in London, she said: "I really hope so. I think he would be a brilliant prime minister and I would be very proud of him."

One survey on Saturday suggested that fewer than a third of voters know and like what the Tories stand for.

Cameron's inner circle has been locked in talks all week to thrash out ways to re-energise their campaign. On the economy, he will pledge to keep mortgage rates down by dealing with the deficit more quickly than Labour and stimulate the recovery by cutting corporation tax.

Tax breaks for marriage and measures to support couples in the benefits system will help make Britain "the most family friendly country in Europe".

NHS spending will be increased year- on-year, while a network of ‘free' schools run by charities, businesses and parents will be created to raise standards.

Finally, the party will promise to restore trust in politics by slashing the number of MPs, cutting Whitehall and quangos by a third and making public spending more transparent so taxpayers can judge for themselves whether their money is being spent well.

Two polls yesterday suggested the Tory lead — which stood at around 15 points last summer — has dipped to as little as five or six points. They are now below the crucial 40 per cent level of support.

Strategists insist the party is doing better in the key marginal seats it needs to win to secure power than national polls suggest.

But privately some Conservative MPs are worried about embarrassing gaffes on teenage pregnancy statistics and confusion over economic policy.

Sources close to the Tory leader insist morale is "high", however. One said: "Elections are either a choice between two parties or a referendum on the one in government. We have and we will make this an election of choice — between five more years of Gordon Brown or change with David Cameron. Actually, the narrowing poll lead could be turned to our advantage. Nothing could better focus people's minds on Labour's record and the prospect of having five more years of them."

Manifesto: Six-point agenda

- Act now on debt to get the economy moving
- Deal with the deficit more quickly than Labour so that mortgage rates stay lower for longer with the Conservatives.
- Get Britain working by boosting enterprise
- Cut corporation tax rates, abolish taxes on the first 10 jobs created by new businesses, promote green jobs, and get people off welfare and into work.
- Make Britain the most family-friendly country in Europe
- Freeze council tax and raise the basic state pension, recognise marriage in the tax system and back couples in the benefits system, support young families with extra health visitors, and fight back against crime.