"As heads of government gather this week at US president George W. Bush’s invitation to discuss the economic crisis, I am sure all will agree that greater international co-operation is needed. What we require is positive action to address the world economic downturn and new architecture to ensure future global imbalances are better managed. Also needed is greater understanding of the massive regulatory and budgetary failures closer to home. Blaming the bankers does not amount to a policy.".....
......."Nowhere was this tendency greater than in Britain during what is now dubbed “the age of irresponsibility”. Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer throughout the period, even claimed he had “abolished boom and bust”. The result was not just a disastrous failure to curb growing levels of personal debt in the UK, which had reached the highest level recorded in any large economy by last year. It also meant the Labour government ran the highest budget deficit of any leading western country. It is little wonder that last week the International Monetary Fund joined the European Commission in predicting that Britain would suffer a deeper recession than any of our competitors.
So our response must be both international and domestic."
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