Get a grip to beat the Tories; RecordView.

THE Labour conference in Brighton this week is crucial if the party are to stand any chance of winning a historic fourth term in power when voters go to the polls next year.

Their chances are slim.

The polls show it and Cabinet ministers make no bones about it.

But if Labour are able to rally and rouse themselves, the general election is not the foregone conclusion many believe.

Signs of apathy and division will set them on the road to certain defeat.

So, now, unity is paramount. Scots Secretary Jim Murphy, who addresses activists today, set the tone in an interview with the Daily Record last week.

Labour must do more, he said, to expose the threat posed by David Cameron's Tories.

That message was echoed by Labour's high command yesterday. Gordon Brown told supporters they faced "the fight of their lives". Alistair Darling urged Labour to rediscover the "fire in our bellies".

But that's not all Labour must do in Brighton this week.

They also have to put across a clear message that Britain faces two futures.

The next election will be a choice between Labour's vision of economic recovery underpinned by a sensible tightening of public spending or the Conservatives' reckless race to slash public spending, as part of their ideological drive to squeeze the state at the expense of those most in need of help.

Labour have to show they have policies for a fourth term.

Brown and Darling will try to do this by unveiling legislation to lock Britain into a gradual programme to reduce the sky-high national debt, sent soaring by measures to save the economy following the banking crisis.

Other measures - to improve care for the elderly, for example - will not make headlines north of the Border but should appeal to Labour voters down south.

Finally, Labour must remain positive and united. Their opponents will seize on the slightest hint that the party have given up any hope of victory.

A Tory government is not inevitable if Labour can focus on the big picture.

That task is made harder by the froth that Brown's opponents use to attack him with, such as yesterday's baseless speculation about his health. But Labour can and should rise above it.

They made the right calls when the economy was in crisis and they have the right plans for Britain's recovery and a fairer future.

This week's conference could give them a fighting chance of putting those plans into action.