Prime minister warns of challenging 2009

Thursday, 1 January 2009 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

Prime minister Gordon Brown has warned that 2009 is likely to be a difficult year but said he was optimistic about Britain meeting those challenges.

In his new year's message, the prime minister promised that he would lead efforts to bring back a sense of stability, opportunity and hope to the country.

During the speech, Mr Brown defended the government's action to take stakes in three of the country's leading banks and stressed that the situation now would have been worse had decisive action not been taken last October.

He added that the government had acted to help "British families and British businesses" and not to "finance bankers".

Speaking about the global financial crisis, the prime minister said: "When the history books come to be written - 2008 will largely be remembered for the scale of the great economic and financial crisis. A year in which an old era of unbridled free market dogma was finally ushered out.

"And I want 2009 to be the year when the dawn of a new progressive era breaks across the world: purposeful and energetic governments giving real help to families and businesses when they need it the most; and through expanding through the downturn vital investments in our future - real hope for that future too," he added.

He said that measures taken this year such as the 2.5 per cent reduction in VAT and changes to the income tax regime would also help families over 2009.

"We are providing an extra £60 to pensioners immediately, on top of the winter allowance; increasing child benefit from January 1st to £20 per week; and helping 22 million basic rate taxpayers with a £145 tax cut. Added to that, the cut in VAT this year will knock around £275 off the average family household bill. Not to do this would be imprudent," he added.

Mr Brown said the country would also be faced with environmental and security challenges that required the UK to work with countries around the world. He said the UK was looking forward to working with US president-elect Barack Obama on creating a "global coalition for change".

The prime minister said: "This coming year won't be easy, but I am determined that this government will be the rock of stability and fairness on which the British people can depend.

"The scale of the challenges we face is matched by the strength of my optimism that the British people can and will rise to meet them. Because we're not a do nothing people and we've always risen to every challenge."

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