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Markets need morality, Gordon Brown tells Labour conference
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...onference.html
Markets need morality, Gordon Brown tells Labour conference
Markets need morality, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has declared - claiming his plan for new global rules on banking regulation was gaining acceptance among world leaders.
Mr Brown told Labour activists in Scotland that he is now pushing for common international standards to curb the pay of bankers and "end the short-term bonus culture".
The Prime Minister's speech, which follows his trip to meet President Barack Obama in Washington this week, is the latest stage in his preparations for the economic summit which he hopes will back his reform plans.
"Only government can make the markets work in the public interest and not their own interest," Mr Brown told the Scottish Labour conference in Dundee.
He added: "We believe that markets need not just money men but morals, that being fair matters far more than being laissez-faire and that banks must always serve the public, not just serve themselves."
Mr Brown's talk of "morality" echoes a speech David Cameron gave in January. The Tory leader told the World Economic Forum in Davos it was "time to place the market within a moral framework".
With Labour trailing the Tories and his own approval rating falling, Mr Brown is pinning his political and economic hopes on a global economic summit in London next month, where he will propose a "global new deal" reform package.
One of the foundations of that package is a move towards shared international rules on the rules under which banks should operate.
In particular, Mr Brown wants regulators to insist that banks take a more "prudent" approach to capital reserves, setting aside more money during years of growth to protect them against possible slumps in the future.
Britain's Financial Services Authority will next month outline proposals for more "prudential regulation". The Conservatives are also working on similar plans.
"Whilst we must retain the benefits that open financial markets bring to the world economy, international financial market regulation must be toughened," Mr Brown said.
Leaders including Mr Obama have been wary of endorsing Mr Brown's "global new deal" but the Prime Minister insisted he could see "an emerging consensus on how we strengthen global regulation of our financial markets".
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It is Gordon Brown who needs morality
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