Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:33am
Reuters
Speaking
at an international conference on progressive politics, Brown also said now was
not the time to put a fragile economic recovery at risk by withdrawing fiscal
support, but to make 2010 a year of growth.
Brown said
a global solution was required to transform financial services, which he
defined as follows:
"Common
rules for capital and liquidity, common standards for supervision, common rules
for bonuses and a shared way of assessing the contribution banks should make to
society, free of the unfair and disproportionate use of regulatory and tax
havens which penalise countries doing the right things."
Referring
specifically to discussions with the International Monetary Fund and with other
countries on the idea of a global levy on banks, Brown said he hoped for
agreement at an upcoming G8 meeting in
On the
issue of when to start withdrawing fiscal stimulus measures to start reducing
Britain's fast-growing public deficit -- a hot political issue in the run-up to
Britain's election, which must take place by June -- Brown strongly defended
his stance of delaying fiscal austerity measures.
He said
the most critical objective now was to consolidate the recovery from recession,
arguing that as fiscal revenues began to rise again that in itself would
contribute to the much-needed reduction of the deficit.
"This
is not the time to put the recovery at risk, this is the time to make sure that
growth and jobs are secured," he said.
The
opposition Conservatives, favourites to win the upcoming election, say
More than 60 economists warned against
premature action to cut
But last
weekend a group of 20 different economists called for the government to start
tackling