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This is London’s big chance to lead the world out of crisis
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister30.03.09
The eyes of the world will be on the capital this week and I know that London will rise to the occasion. I am very much looking forward to welcoming to the city the leaders of the G20 countries, the world's largest economies. I can't promise that the week will be completely hassle-free for commuters and residents but I can assure you that everyone is working hard to keep disruption to a minimum. I know the city will cope admirably and Londoners, as they have done so often in the past, will extend a warm and generous welcome to our visitors.
This is an opportunity both to showcase the city and also to take a big step towards ensuring London can return to prosperity as quickly as possible.
The most important benefit will be the opportunity to agree further co-ordinated action to create jobs, tighten and toughen up banking rules, increase support and bank lending for businesses and protect families in London and across the world.
Let us not forget that it took years for the world to recover from the 1929 Wall Street crash; that a previous summit of major economies in London in 1933 collapsed in disunity and the world retreated into a downward spiral of protectionism and depression; and that it was not until 16 years later, in 1945 at Bretton Woods, that the world was able to unite and agree the new international economic and financial architecture that laid the foundations for half a century of peace and prosperity.
We must learn the lessons of the past. And today, in a new and different world, the new global economy is meeting its first big test. The speed and scale of global economic change has overwhelmed the old national systems of rules and regulations. We have to show that out of global problems we can agree global solutions. The London summit is the chance to show we can work together.
Already the work leading to the summit has generated action on a wide range of issues, on a scale that would normally have taken years to achieve.In short, the economics of the depression-era US President Herbert Hoover - of doing nothing except retrenchment and cutting spending - has been firmly rejected right across the globe. Governments of Left and Right are intervening to take action to help people and businesses in their countries through this global recession.
The world leaders coming to London this week know that sitting back and failing to act would be the greatest failure of leadership.
While the action we all take comes with a price and the decisions to take action are not taken lightly, the cost of doing nothing, and allowing the world to slide into prolonged recession, would run the greatest risk of all.
So in the past few months governments have taken action to boost their economies, to co-ordinate cuts in interest rates, to tackle tax havens and to impose stronger regulation of the financial system to stabalise hedge funds and put an end to the short- termist bonus culture.
But although good progress has been made, we all still have more to do: first, we must tighten financial regulation across the world to keep up with the growth of global finance. So many of our workers here in London depend on the health of the Square Mile and I know that ordinary City workers are feeling the pain of the worldwide financial colIapse that has triggered this global recession.
I share the anger people feel about the mistakes made by some of our bankers, both here and abroad. But it is fitting that we are seeking to agree new rules for global financial markets here in London. Getting this right can provide a platform for a reformed City to secure its place as the world's leading financial centre in a more responsible, better supervised global system that our economies so urgently need.
Put simply, national systems working alone aren't enough and we need to take action to join up and tighten the rules for our financial markets. That means tackling shadow banking systems and tax havens and it means agreeing the next steps to reform our global institutions like the Financial Stability Forum, the IMF and the World Bank to stop this kind of crisis happening again.
Second, on trade - the lifeblood of the global economy - we must agree to keep markets open and reject protectionism in any form. And we will need action now to jump-start world trade by helping businesses export through by providing more than $100billion of extra resources to help finance exports.
Third, we need to continue to do whatever it takes to shorten the recession and kick-start global growth. The big emerging countries - some of whom I visited last week - will be key to the global recovery, creating jobs not just overseas but in this country as well.
Seventy per cent of world's growth has come from developing countries in the past decade - and if other economies grow alongside our own, we all benefit from increased trade and job opportunities. But developing countries need access to international support - such as from the International Monetary Fund - if they are to drive future growth. So at the London Summit I will press for a further boost to the IMF's resources.
This is a decisive moment for the world economy. Growth has stalled around the world. We have a choice to make. We can either let the recession run its course and retreat into isolationism - a "do nothing" approach that will push us further into recession. Or we can resolve as a world community to unite, to act and fight back against this global recession that is hurting people in every country in every continent. This is the test we face in London this week.
Reader views (14)
with A headline like that ,I think IM reading PRAVDA
- phil, usa
It was a big surprise to notice that your newspaper does not have any news about the visit of the Mexican President, Felipe Calderon, as long as he was with the Queen and with the PM, Mr. Brown. I understand that your main public is the English one. However, the Evening Standard is part of the cyberspace, in this sense, it is a global newspaper. So, the ES should consider those news that could be interesting to the public from other countries. Britain is an island, but is part of the world, and its press too.
- Ricardo Guadarrama, Mexico City, Mexico
What you mean is, that this is Brown's chance to make an even bigger fool of himself.
- David, Fleet UK
Mr Brown,
Your incompetent, dishonest government of war criminals has destroyed the economy of the country through your own much hyped 'light touch' regulation, which allowed a minority of clever if capricious bankers to ruin us and make a fool of you. Your international standing is a joke. You and your mendacious predecessor have reduced the once proud UK to an object of hatred and derision in the world. Recovery will occur when there is political change and the electorate and consumers fell there is a government in power that is in touch and is honest, both with the people and in the personal conduct of it's members (MPs and Cabinet). You cannot expect the public to put up with the antics of yourself and your government, just in the last week - McNulty, Smith (and MP Cohen)continue to spend and on top of this accept a pay award to yourselves of 2.88%. It is insulting to the real hardworking families of this country.
Further you have committed demographic terrorism through uncontrolled immigration, pandered to the very Islamist minorities which radicalise Muslim youth, imposed ridiculous class envy based policies in education and health, weakened the British union and connived to destroy our countries armed forces.
The country will recover, but only when you and your cabal of dishonest and incompetent fools are gone. if you had one shred of decency left, you would call a general election and at least see what mandate you actually had, since you became PM with none!
- Graeme, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
There is nothing to lead as you have already lead us into a blackhole. All parliamentarians should resign and we will have elected officials running various departments of the country directly who will be responsible to the public not appointees of prime minister or party whip or official. No more political parties. No more passing on the mantle - as clearly politicians are out of their depth in this global village.
My message to Gordon Brown, Prime Minister is simple - Get out and get lost.
- Tim, London, UK
Hope you enjoyed your 'Hannan' moment. Here was a man prepared to tell you like it is. Unfortunately the rest of the country, whilst generally feeling the same, have NO OPPORTUNITY to tell you anything. You wouldn't listen anyway.
Now, why haven't you asked Jacqui Smith to resign yet?
And another thing, when is the general election? I ask because it's the only opportunity I have to let you know what I think of your anti-democratic, authoritarian, incompetent government. And stop grinning whilst I'm talking to you, you really are showing your ignorance....
- What For, UK just about
Is it just me or is this loser beginning to look and act deranged with his mental grin and weird delusional ramblings? Alistair Cambell was right, he is 'psychologically flawed'.
- Andrew, Leaving the sinking ship England
The eyes of 70% of british people have been on you hoping that you would have the dignity to resign instead you have been swanning around the world on our tax money, trying to play the BIG MAN, and you have failed miserably.
Your party seems to be only interested in staying in power so you can change the laws to stop us doing anything but yet your MPs take as much free money, sorry expenses, and when found out you run around saying sorry, then call the police to stop us finding out what we should be allowed to know, WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH OUR MONEY.
You have no credibility anymore, Please RESIGN NOW, cancel this "power trip" and slide into the background with you "oink oinks" and your generous pensions and 2nd houses which WE THE TAXPAYERS have paid for and for what a bankrupt county which is the laughing stock of the world.
You said on numerous occasions you would listen but you dont, you carry on with this illusion that people care what you say, they do but we never hear what we want or ask for.
Please as i have said before RESIGN, and give us the chance to show you what we feel.
joolzg
- Julian Gardner, Stirling, Scotland
Please can the Opposition parties call a VOTE OF NO CONDIDENCE in this government now. This country cannot take being governed by these idiots any longer.
- Hertzog, London
Brown - you and your government should be in prison for what you have done to this country. I am so angry. .
- James, LONDON
There is nothing more that needs to be said than has been said by the MEP Daniel Hannan to you recently.
If you didn't understand the message can I suggest you watch it again and again until you can comprehend the anger you face from everyone here in the UK.
- Iunknown, London, UK
Resign. Please... For the love of god, if you seriously care even a tiny bit about this country, resign.
Fair enough, you had a go, but you clearly aren't up to the job - things have turned serious now thanks to your years in office - resign, let someone who has a clue what they're doing take over before this country is destroyed for good. Stop pretending you know what you are doing; we know you don't and you know you don't. You're making things worse with every day you remain in office - please, please resign.
- Dave Wells, London
Not sure why I am writing this as we all know you have no interest in listening to the public, but I will anyway:
1) London will never lead anything while you remain in Government.
2) For the good of the country, resign today, just do it, right now.
3) You have turned the UK into a laughing stock
4) Your legacy will be a long period of self-interest as we all jostle for jobs and what little wealth remains for us to get our hands on.
How does it make you feel, Mr Brown, that you, a staunch socialist, has become the architect of unprecedented era of greed and selfishness.
- St, London
Do we not need to look at less greed and more honest hard work for sensible rates of pay, reduce the red tape, do gooders, and the nanny state and get the 'Great' back in Britain and the 'United' back in Kingdom,. Support the SME's and help them with cash flow and like the HMRC gives them rights to be paid for services supplied.
- O Hemsley, Oakham, Great Britain
