The Prime Minister, who earlier brushed off a call by Tory leader David Cameron for a General Election, insisted that he understood popular concerns at a time of global economic problems.

Addressing Labour's National Policy Forum at the Warwick University campus in Coventry, he promised new measures in the coming weeks to help people cope with the pressures of energy costs.

"We understand and we hear people's concerns," he said.

"We will do whatever is necessary over the next few months to help hard-working families through these difficult times."

Mr Brown praised Margaret Curran, the defeated Labour candidate in Glasgow East, saying that she had fought an "excellent" campaign.

He stressed that with oil prices having trebled over the last two years and food shortages pushing up prices, he said that every country in the world was affected by the current economic difficulties.

"Coming from ordinary families as we do and have done, we know what it is like when people go to the supermarket and find that the price of milk, and the price of bread, and the price of eggs have gone up dramatically in recent months," he said.

"We know that our role when facing global economic challenges is to be on the side of hard-working families, on the side of the people of Britain."