Economy tops Labour conference agenda
- 00:01:39
- ITN
Economy tops Labour conference agenda
The economy is at the top of the agenda at the Labour Party conference but questions about Gordon Brown's leadership refuse to go away. The Prime Minister has confessed to making mistakes and admits he has to do better. All eyes will be on his Chancellor Alistair Darling who will promise to take whatever steps necessary to deal with the current financial turmoil. He will, however, concede that no national government acting alone can deal with the problems of globalisation. Mr Darling and Mr Brown are due to fly from Labour's conference in Manchester straight to New York, where they will seek international agreement on tighter regulation of the financial sector. Mr Brown has condemned "irresponsibility" in the markets and an "unacceptable" bonus system for encouraging risky behaviour and called for new international rules governing the allocation of rewards. Echoing Bill Clinton, the Prime Minister said that the watchword for the current crisis could be: "It's the global economy, stupid." And Mr Darling will say: "Just as one government alone cannot combat global terrorism, just as one government alone cannot deal with climate change, one government alone cannot deal with the impact of globalisation." In his keynote speech to conference, the Chancellor will accept that the British economy faces difficulties but will insist he is confident that the country will get through them. Aides last night said he will not minimise the scale of difficulties and will acknowledge voters' concerns about their jobs, mortgages and household bills. He will promise to avoid "knee-jerk" reactions but instead to take the right long-term decisions for economic stability in a measured way. And he will set out plans to restore financial stability in the UK and abroad and pledge to do what he can to ease the impact of the crisis on ordinary families at home.
ITN | September 22, 2008
