Brown Calls for National Unity Amid U.K. Public Pay Freeze

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Gordon Brown will call on Britons to unite behind his government on the day many government staff learn whether their pay has been frozen.

Soldiers, health-care and prison workers and senior staff will get details of any pay increases for next year from review bodies that operate at arm’s length from government. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said last year he wanted wages frozen for judges, family doctors and senior health administrators, with other civil servants getting increases of less than 1 percent. About 750,000 people will be affected.

In a speech to business leaders in London Brown will say the country is at a “crossroads,” with voters due to go to the polls within weeks to decide whether to stick with his Labour government or back the opposition Conservatives. Before then, Darling is due to set out his annual budget. No date has been given for the event, which may take place as soon as next week.

“We have got through this storm together but there are still substantial risks ahead,” Brown will say, according to extracts of his speech released in advance by his office. “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” that led to a global recession.

Brown must hold the election by June 3. Recent polls have suggested that the Labour Party is closing the gap with David Cameron’s Conservatives, and that for the first time since 1974, no party may emerge with an outright majority in Parliament.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.net