May 16 (Reuters) - Gordon Brown was assured of becoming Britain's next prime minister without a vote after his only rival for the ruling Labour Party's leadership conceded defeat on Wednesday.

The finance minister is set to be proclaimed Labour leader at a conference on June 24 and will become prime minister three days later when Tony Blair resigns after a decade in power.

Following are some of the policy areas Brown must tackle.

ECONOMY:

Brown has been finance minister since 1997 and markets have little to fear from a Brown premiership as economic policy is likely to remain unchanged. He has pledged to keep the tightest lid on public spending growth in a decade and announced cuts in the headline corporation and income tax rates from next year.

IRAQ:

Brown has publicly backed the Iraq war and accepted responsibility for going to war as a cabinet decision. However, he will be anxious to draw a line under the conflict -- perhaps the biggest reason for the government's unpopularity -- and has pledged to reduce troop numbers when possible. In the past week, he has accepted mistakes were made in Iraq but has ruled out an immediate pullout of British troops.

THE UNITED STATES:

Blair has come under fire for his unstinting support of the Bush administration. Brown is likely to have a slightly cooler approach but disappoint those who feel Britain needs to be more anti-Bush. He has often said anti-Americanism is a mistake.

SECURITY:

Brown has publicly supported government plans to detain terrorism suspects for more than 28 days without charge, which was defeated in parliament. He has also spoken of winning over "hearts and minds" to deflect the threat of home-grown attacks.

Launching his campaign on Friday, he said there must be a balance between defending Britain's security and protecting civil liberties.

EUROPE:

Brown is widely perceived as cooler towards Europe than Blair. He kept Britain out of the European single currency.

Nevertheless, Brown is aware that many key issues, such as tackling carbon emissions, require a European solution.

Nicolas Sarkozy winning the French election and Angela Merkel leading Germany may also give greater impetus to structural reform -- something Brown has advocated strongly.

He has refused to be drawn on what kind of European Union treaty he wants but said he believed in a "Europe of governments cooperating with other governments".

TRIDENT:

Brown is committed to renewing Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent, which has angered some left wingers.

PARLIAMENT/CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM:

Brown pledges to "restore power" to parliament. Government must be more open and accountable to parliament in decisions about peace and war and in public appointments, he says.

He wants constitutional reforms to make government officials more accountable and to make clear the rights and responsibilities of being a British citizen. He has promised a new ministerial code of conduct.

He has said there is a case for holding confirmation hearings for people named to some important government jobs.

EDUCATION:

Brown has pledged to raise spending on schools so pupils in the state sector suffer no disadvantage compared to privately educated children.

HEALTH:

Brown says the state-run National Heath Service will be a priority. Hospitals in some areas have been hit by cuts recently despite the large sums Blair's government put into the service.

Brown allies have floated the idea of setting up an independent board for the National Health Service that would give it constitutional freedom and hence continuity of policy.

But it is not clear this will go ahead.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY:

As all main political parties vie to seize the green initiative, Brown has made clear he prefers incentives to taxes, which may be regressive.

He believes tackling pollution has to be done at a global level since carbon emission ceilings are set at an EU level. He is also expected to back the building of new nuclear power stations though may be more cost conscious than Blair.

He has announced plans to build five environmentally friendly "eco-towns".

PLANNING:

Brown is likely to ease some of Britain's planning laws. This could enable easier building of new homes, shopping centres and nuclear power stations.

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