Brown faces grilling on the economy

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The economic slowdown is among the topics chosen by the House of Commons liaison committee for its latest marathon grilling of the Prime Minister.

Oil price spikes and rising food and energy prices will also be high on the agenda after Britons were warned on Wednesday that they faced a year or more of lower living standards.

New Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean told MPs there was "not very much that we can do about that as a nation" without increasing productivity to offset global factors.

His gloomy outlook came as Marks & Spencer issued a shock profit warning, the construction industry showed its fastest slowdown in 11 years and the UK was warned it faces a 100,000 rise in jobless numbers over the next two years.

Constitutional reform and global "flashpoints" make up the rest of the list of broad topics announced by the committee - which brings together the chairs of 30 select committees.

It is the second time Mr Brown has faced the MPs as part of the twice-yearly, two-and-a-half hour sessions first introduced by predecessor Tony Blair.