You are in > manchester.com  > News > Brown breaks Northern Rock silence

Finance

Brown breaks Northern Rock silence

18/09/2007

Gordon Brown has broken his silence on the Northern Rock credit crisis by insisting the UK economy is in rude health.

The prime minister said that it was the inherent strength of the economy he presided over at the Treasury for the last ten years that had enabled the government to take steps to protect the troubled bank.

Yesterday chancellor Alistair Darling said the government would guarantee all deposits held within the company amid startling scenes of customers queuing for hours to withdraw their savings from Northern Rock.

More than £2 billion is reported to have been withdrawn from Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender since it requested emergency cash from the Bank of England last week.

Speaking at a citizens' jury event in Birmingham, Mr Brown downplayed the entire Northern Rock affair.

"This is a set of financial problems that… [has] happened in America, spread to Germany and Europe and now we're seeing some of the evidence of that in Northern Rock in the UK," he told reporters.

"We are an economy that has taken the measures that are necessary to keep a stable currency; inflation is coming down, and at the same time we have put in place regulatory measures that make sure that when incidents like this happen they are properly dealt with," the prime minister continued.

"And what I want to assure people is that everything that can be done will be done and is being doing, to maintain the stability of the economy.

"We're an economy that will continue to grow, continue to create jobs, and continue to have low inflation and interest rates: everything that has been put into place in the last two days is designed to ensure that."