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I can save economy again - Brown | I can save economy again - Brown |
(40 minutes later) | |
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he is the right man to steer the country through difficult economic times. | Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he is the right man to steer the country through difficult economic times. |
He blamed "international factors" for rising oil and food prices and housing market problems and said he was taking the right action to deal with them. | He blamed "international factors" for rising oil and food prices and housing market problems and said he was taking the right action to deal with them. |
Asked if he should stay in his job he said: "There are many people who could take over but I think I can steer this economy through difficult times." | Asked if he should stay in his job he said: "There are many people who could take over but I think I can steer this economy through difficult times." |
"I have done it before and I can do it again," he told the BBC. | "I have done it before and I can do it again," he told the BBC. |
The prime minister, who faces questions at his monthly media conference later, is seeking to regain the political initiative after recent difficulties. | The prime minister, who faces questions at his monthly media conference later, is seeking to regain the political initiative after recent difficulties. |
On Wednesday he set out his draft legislative programme for next year - a list of bills that he plans to bring into Parliament from November this year. | On Wednesday he set out his draft legislative programme for next year - a list of bills that he plans to bring into Parliament from November this year. |
By-election battle | |
But the announcement was overshadowed by a raft of gloomy economic news and the governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King warning the "nice" decade was over. | |
The reason it's going wrong are international factors that we are going to deal with Gordon BrownPrime Minister | |
The Conservatives and Lib Dems said the government's programme was an exercise in political survival after Labour's local elections losses. | |
All parties are campaigning in Crewe and Nantwich ahead of the by-election on 22 May, which is seen as a key to Labour's prospects of recovery, after its worst local election results in 40 years. | |
The prime minister is also under pressure to explain a surprise £2.7bn tax cut package unveiled on Tuesday, after earlier insisting there was no cash for such a move. | |
In an interview with Today, he insisted the tax cuts were not a short-term "fix" to get him out of political trouble, as other countries were also pumping money into their economies. | |
He also denied he had broken his own financial rules on only borrowing for investment, saying that applied to the entire economic cycle. | |
'World circumstances' | |
And he attempted to brush of criticism of his leadership style in memoirs by John Prescott and Cherie Blair, saying he did not listen to "innuendo and gossip". | |
He told interviewer John Humphrys he believed he was still the right person to steer the country through tough economic times, as he had done in his previous role as Chancellor. | |
"I have had experience in the last 11 years of building a strong economy. I think few people would deny that we have had a good economy over the last 11 years. | |
"The reason it's going wrong are international factors that we are going to deal with and I am probably best placed to deal with these issues because of what I know about dealing with other countries on oil and other issues and we are going to keep going. | |
"Of course there are many people who could take over, but I think I can steer this economy through difficult times and make sure we do the best by Britain in what are difficult world circumstances." | |
He said his priorities were oil prices, food prices, the housing market and "getting funds to business". |