Brown refuses to guarantee savings

10:09pm Tuesday 30th September 2008

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has welcomed cross-party co-operation on the economy but rejected calls for the Government to guarantee all savings.

He repeated his pledge to do "whatever is necessary" to get Britain through the global financial turmoil after Chancellor Alistair Darling held emergency talks with opposition parties.

And he again insisted that the UK was in a "far stronger position financially than in previous decades" and well placed to get through the present difficulties.

But, in the face of demands from Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg for a "cast iron guarantee" that no depositors would lose out, the Prime Minister said he believed Government plans to extend the present protection level to £50,000 would be sufficient.

In one of a round of media interviews, Mr Brown said: "We will do whatever is necessary, however it is necessary, to ensure the stability of the system, which is vital to the security of family budgets and the security of pensioners with savings."

Asked whether he would follow the Irish Government in giving a full guarantee for savers, he said: "Let's remember that the Irish are dealing with taxpayers' money here. We have got to get what is right and also what is reasonable.

"Of course we look at every intervention that is necessary to take but I think people can see from our actions so far that depositors have been protected - no UK depositor has actually lost money."

The raising of the limit from £35,000 to £50,000 is included in new banking legislation which the Conservatives promised to help get through Parliament by the time emergency laws passed during the Northern Rock crisis run out in February.

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