'I'm ready' says Miliband as he launches UK election manifesto

Opposition leader Ed Miliband insisted he was ready to be Britain's next prime minister as he launched a manifesto April 13 designed to boost his party's reputation on the economy.

Miliband sought to reassure voters that his centre-left Labour party would manage the economy responsibly while handing more wealth to low and middle income families during a speech in Manchester, northwest England.
 
Labour has been virtually tied with Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives in opinion polls for months in an election race which many experts predict will yield another coalition or minority government.
 
But with 24 days to go until the May 7 general election, the economy remains one of the party's main weak spots and polling suggests voters trust Labour less on the issue than the Conservatives.
 
Labour's record on the economy while in government between 1997 and 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown is also frequently attacked by the Conservatives, who blame the party for running up a budget deficit of some 90 billion (124 billion euros, $130 billion).
 
"I'm ready. Ready to put an end to the tired old idea that as long as we look after the rich and powerful, we will all be OK," Miliband told activists.
 
"If you elect me as your prime minister in just over three weeks' time, I will work for that goal... I know Britain can be better."          

In a bid to signal fiscal credibility, Labour is promising to cut the deficit every year until it is eradicated and detail how each manifesto pledge will be paid for, with no extra borrowing.
 
It says its plans for reducing the debt would hurt ordinary, middle-income families less than those announced by Cameron's Conservatives, in power as senior...