UK's Brown: We hear the voters' message

LONDON, May 6 (UPI) -- Labor will listen to the message the British people are sending by reducing the party's majority, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said Friday.

Speaking after his win in the Scottish seat of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Brown said Labor would "listen and learn," in a tacit acknowledgement of widespread public dissatisfaction with Labor over issues such as the Iraq war.

Exit polls indicate Labor's majority will be slashed from 160 to 66, though experts have suggested it could be significantly lower.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged that Iraq had "played a part" in the reduction of his majority in the Labor stronghold of Blackburn, where Muslims make up 26 percent of the population.

"We've got to listen soberly and seriously to what the public are saying to us," said Labor's Robin Cook, who resigned from his post as foreign secretary over the war.

Many Labor seats have seen a significant swing to the Liberal Democrats. The party opposed the war in Iraq and pledged to start withdrawing British troops by the end of 2005.