British prime minister Gordon Brown sees risks to the economic recovery and says it is not the moment to change course as he prepares for an election by June.
Brown, the former finance minister, will set out his views on how he thinks a recovery can be assured and future growth created in a speech at Thomson Reuters offices in Canary Wharf later on Wednesday.
"We are at a turning point, a crossroads, for our domestic economic recovery -- and for the global economic governance that will shape the next decades for us and our children, and for families and children all across the world," Brown will say, according to advance excerpts from his speech.
"The stakes are high. We dare not risk the recovery," Brown will add.
"We have got through this storm together but there are still substantial risks ahead. There will be bumps in the road. And I believe the only way to overcome them is by displaying the same strength and resolve as we did during the crisis."
Britain has just emerged from its worst recession in more than 50 years. Its budget deficit is forecast to exceed 12 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year and how to tackle that is a central issue ahead of the election.
The opposition Conservatives say they will cut spending earlier and harder than Brown's ruling Labour. The prime minister has warned that cutting too soon could jeopardise a fragile economic recovery.
The Conservatives had a lead of more than 10 points in opinion polls for many months, but the gap has closed and there is now the prospect of an inconclusive election in which neither of the two main parties wins an outright majority.
