Brown urging Europe to follow lead

2:14pm Sunday 12th October 2008

Gordon Brown is to urge EU leaders to copy Britain's blueprint for tackling global financial turmoil.

At a crunch summit in Paris, the Prime Minister will insist that co-ordinated international action along the lines of his £500bn bank bail-out is the only way to ease "extraordinary" turmoil on markets.

The meeting comes after the US set out a similar plan to the UK's, which will see the Government take significant stakes in banks and guarantee lending between them.

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, Mr Brown echoed the warning from US President George Bush yesterday that countries must not "turn against each other" or seek isolation amid the chaos.

"No country - not even the biggest - can make it just on their own at a time like this," he insisted. "We are all in it together and have to work to solve it together."

He said he knew people were "worried", but evoked the spirit of the Blitz in claiming that the UK would "lead the way through".

"I've seen in the cities and towns I've visited a calm, determined British spirit; that, while this is a world financial crisis that has started from America, Britain will lead the way in pulling through.

"And I know that we will come together as a country and emerge a fairer and more successful nation than ever before. Together, we can win the fight for Britain's future."

EU leaders were already due to meet in Brussels on Wednesday. However, Sunday's gathering of eurozone members in Paris was hastily arranged by French President Nicolas Sarkozy after a disastrous week on financial markets.

In a break with precedent, Mr Brown has been invited despite the UK not being part of the single currency.

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