Vote 2010: Gordon Brown faces Yorkshire Post readers - VIDEO

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In an hour-long session of questions from Yorkshire Post readers ahead of the general election, the Prime Minister warned that unemployment – which has fallen for the past three months – "may not continue to go down" ahead of the release of figures next week.

But he said Yorkshire was well placed to exploit new jobs in green energy, the digital expansion and pharmaceuticals and with high-speed rail links cutting journey times the North-South divide could be "very different from what it has been in the past".

With voters going to the polls in three weeks and the first televised debate between the three party leaders tonight, Mr Brown became the last of the three main party heads to face an audience of our readers during a two-day visit to Yorkshire, where Labour is desperately fighting to keep hold of a string of marginal seats which could determine who forms the next government.

The Prime Minister brushed off controversy over his admission that he made a mistake by failing to regulate the banks better by insisting he had said so "for many months". He stood by Labour's planned National Insurance increase – branded a "tax on jobs" by the Tories – saying it was necessary to "maintain and improve" public services.

He was challenged in person for the first time by right-to-die campaigner Debbie Purdy, from Bradford, who urged him to change the law to support assisted suicide. He insisted that his personal experience with family members had convinced him against any change.

Defending his record, Mr Brown insisted Labour's interventionist approach to the recession meant "you will not see the problems we have in the 1980s where young people are on the streets", but raised the prospect of jobless numbers rising again.

Unemployment nationally has fallen for three successive months, while last month there was a 7,000 drop in Yorkshire where 230,000 are out of work.

Asked about the new 50 per cent tax rate on top earners, he said he "didn't want to do it" but insisted: "We have taken these tough decisions that I am asking, you, the people of Yorkshire to understand have been made. People's standards of living have been affected but we have not seen the mortgage repossessions of the past and now we are taking these difficult decisions which I think are balanced judgements about the right way forward."

As the Tories stepped up their campaigning in the region with party chairman Eric Pickles visiting and the Liberal Democrats unveiled their manifesto, Mr Brown insisted he could tackle the North-South divide in spite of London's success during the financial services boom

meaning the economic gap widened.

He said Yorkshire was "well placed" to benefit from some of the 400,000 jobs in low carbon industries such as building wind turbines and developing technology to capture emissions from coal-fired power stations and store them under the seabed.

Developing super-fast broadband and the digital expansion could lead to a million jobs. All parts of the country would benefit from jobs in pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies.

"I do believe you have got unique attributes here in Yorkshire which you can exploit to get many of the new jobs."