Brown backs Bush's $700bn bailout plan
Brown backs Bush's $700bn bailout plan
Saturday, 27, Sep 2008 12:00
A proposed $700 billion (£380 billion) US government plan to rescue troubled financial institutions has the UK's support, according to prime minister Gordon Brown.
Mr Brown held a 90-minute meeting with US president George Bush today in which they discussed the problems in the global economy as well as foreign policy in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In comments after his meeting, the head of British government said the proposed plan, under which the US treasury will purchase troubled assets from banks, would help boost liquidity in the international system.
Expressing support for the plan, Mr Brown said: "America and Britain have always stood together as one in times of difficulty and challenging times, and I have told President Bush today that facing global turbulence Britain supports the US plan.
"Whatever the details of it, it is the right thing to do."
He added that it was every government's duty to ensure the stability of its own economy and to cooperate with other countries to bring about global prosperity.
Speaking at the United Nations yesterday, Mr Brown called for global supervision to end the "age of irresponsibility" and for greater global supervision in the financial sphere.
"This cannot just be national anymore. We must have global supervision.
"The age of irresponsibility must be ended. We must now become that new global order founded on transparency, not opacity," the prime minister added.