Govt launches credit crunch website
Monday, 23 February 2009 3:48 PM
By politics.co.uk staff
The prime minister has launchued a new website to try to explain the economic crisis and what the government is doing to combat it.
Gordon Brown mentioned the real help now website during a speech in Southampton where the cabinet met as part of its progress around the country this morning.
The aim of the website is similar to the "recovery" website launched by US presdient Obama in the US which was launched recently as a way of telling the American people how their taxes are being spent to combat the recession in the US.
During his speech in Southampton Mr Brown said: "We are facing something quite extraordinary, a global banking crisis, the banks of the world for the first time have seized up and we have got to unblock that.
"We have got to make sure that credit can flow to businesses, that mortgages are available for families and that people who depend on banks for their savings and security can once again feel they can trust the banks in this country and of course trust the banks in every country of the world."
He added the new website "spelt out" in one place all the government help available.
It also includes Mr Brown's explanation of how the current crisis occurred - in which he describes an economy without a fully functioning banking system to a house without electricity.
The cabinet meeting and subsequent day spent in Southampton also saw ministers highlight 21,000 new apprenticeships from April in hospitals, schools and local government at the start of National Apprenticeships Week.
But the visit was criticsed by local Lib Dem MP Sandra Gidley, who called it nothing more than an empty gesture. The Conservatives were also quick to point out that the government was likely to miss its apprenticeship target by almost two decades.
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