Darling quiet on stamp duty plan

He would not be drawn on newspaper reports that the temporary scrapping of the levy would form a key plank of an economic recovery plan to be unveiled by Gordon Brown.

The Government was looking at a number of measures to help people during tougher economic times, he said.

And Mr Darling insisted Foreign Secretary David Miliband - whose article last week setting out his vision for restoring Labour's political fortunes was seen as a rallying call to would-be rebels - would stay in Government.

The Chancellor said Prime Minister Brown was "very focused" on what the Government needed to do to recapture people's enthusiasm.

This would be set out very clearly when Mr Brown came back from his summer holidays, he added.

He admitted it was "very difficult to speculate" on what would happen to house prices in the coming year, but it was "perfectly true" the British economy would slow down, he said.

Mr Darling has replaced Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman as the senior duty minister while Mr Brown is on holiday in Suffolk.

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Darling insisted the Government could put its political and economic woes behind it and "turn the situation round".

Questioned over plans for the temporary suspension of stamp duty he said: "I am looking at a number of measures and I am not going to be drawn on that today because we have not concluded what exactly we need to do. It is helping people that is important. I want to look at a range of options that will help people."