Gordon Brown again dodged talk of an early election when he was questioned over what help he could offer Labour in Scotland.

Interviewed on BBC radio's Good Morning Scotland, the Prime Minister said: "I don't think I'm going to give a running commentary on election speculation.

"What people want to know from a conference like this is, what's your vision of the future, what are you saying about the new policies, and what are you saying to the country and a whole and not just to your party."

His speech to Labour's conference would cover health, the economy and what could be done internationally to help trouble spots around the world, he said.

"The first and foremost expectation of a government like ours is that people have an economy which is stable and growing and creating jobs, and creating prosperity.

"And I think that people know in Scotland that in the last 10 years we have created huge numbers of jobs, we have had a stable economy, more people have been able to buy their own homes and start becoming homeowners as a result of low mortgages," he said.

"Wherever we've had difficulties that arise from the world economy, whether it's Northern Rock last week or the Asian crisis, a trebling of oil prices, an American recession, we have been able as a government to ensure that Scottish people across the country have the benefits of government that's ensured stability.

"That's a million miles aware from the stop-go policies we have had in the past and the risk that people are not prepared to take with policies that are untried."

He said Labour in Scotland had "a vigorous new leadership" in Wendy Alexander, who had already set out a programme of reform and modernisation.

"One of the things she's talking about, like all of us are talking about, is how the public services - healthcare, education, schools, our policing service -can be more tailored to the needs of the individual," said Mr Brown.

"We have universal services, accessible to all, like the health service.

"We now want these services to be personal to all."

He went on: "At the same time, I think people know in Scotland that the benefits of being part of a UK economy where we have had stability and growth, and where we have been creating jobs, is the foundation for the prosperity and standards and quality of life that people in Scotland can enjoy."

While there was more to do in areas like child poverty, the economic success that Labour could built on was key to the future of Scotland.

And Mr Brown played down the scale of the SNP's Holyrood victory in May.

"I think you just have to remember that the SNP got a third of the vote in the election," he said.

"Two thirds of the people of Scotland want to be part of the UK."

He went on: "I don't think you should underestimate the extent to which it was a very narrow election in the end between the SNP and Labour.

"The SNP had one more seat than Labour at the end of the day, but two thirds of the people of Scotland want to be part of Britain and only one third want to be part of the SNP's idea of a separatist Scotland."