And so Gordon Brown has confirmed what was widely expected - that the election will be on the 6th of May.

The country faces a big choice and that is the first important thing to remember.  Elections are a choice about competing futures, not simple a referendum on what has happened or on whether the government of the day has got everything right.  This is a choice between a future with a Labour Government focussed on securing the recovery, getting the deficit down in a fair way and protecting the public services vital to quality of life or a future where we go back to a Conservative Government which in the last week has shed all pretence of trying to deal with the deficit and is instead spraying around spending pledges and plans for tax changes for which they have no money.

It's a choice too about who Government wishes to fight for - the broad majority, the people who want to work hard, to get on in life, who want a better future for their sons and daughters than they sometimes were able to have themselves, or a government whose big tax priority is an inheritance tax cut for the wealthiest estates in the country.

I do not believe in the politics of envy or division.  But I do believe in the politics of hope and opportunity for all, regardless of their background.  I do believe in progress and advancement, of giving people a chance, whatever hand they were dealt when they were born.  That is what the Labour Party is all about.

Elections are about big choices.  That is what is facing the country over the coming weeks.  Think hard about your vote.  Be curious about the answers.  Because they really will shape your future for the years to come.