TONY BLAIR urged voters to put Iraq to one side last night and judge his Government on domestic issues.

He said the invasion of Iraq would not be a decisive issue for the majority of voters when they go to the polls on Thursday.

Mr Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown embarked on a final two-day tour of swing seats in the South-East yesterday, and the Prime Minister said the Iraq war was not "nearly as big an issue for voters as it is for the media".

Speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo before the news broke that another British soldier had been killed, he said: "That's the blunt truth. Maybe one in 20 people mention it to me but, if they do, and there's a camera around, that's the one that will get on the telly.

"Most people know perfectly well there's more (to the election) than Iraq."

After a week of ferocious Tory and Liberal Democrat attacks on the Prime Minister's character and the legality of the war, Mr Blair sought to draw a line under the subject.

He said: "It's completely absurd. Michael Howard has taken four or five different positions on this issue.

"When people start to trade insults then they have lost the argument. I think it's a measure of their desperation.

"We have to make sure we deal with not rerunning the arguments of the past about Iraq, but about the future of Britain."

And in a message to voters across the North-East, the Prime Minister sought to play down expectations of a handsome Labour election victory.

Despite polls still showing Labour in the lead, he claimed the threat of a "back door" Tory victory was very real.

He said: "The Labour Party has never been in this position before, going for a third consecutive term in office. Nothing is certain and we shall just have to hold firm to what we believe.

"If I have a message to people in the North-East it's 'get out and vote'.

"The danger is that there are three ways to vote Tory: you can vote Tory, you can vote Lib Dem or you can stay at home.

"You end up with the same result, which is a Tory MP - and, if there us enough of them, a Tory government.

"There are seats that are close, even in the North-East. It's important that people understand that a General Election may be for the whole country, but it's fought constituency by constituency.

"A few thousand people staying at home or not bothering to vote could let the Tories in by the back door."

Mr Blair said the region was in a better state now than it had been before Labour came to power.

"I'm sure there are always things you'd do differently but, looked at overall, is the region better than it was under 18 years of Conservative government? I think it is better and stronger."