Darling announces Northern Rock to be nationalised

The chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling has announced that failing bank Northern Rock is to be nationalised.

Mr Darling announced at a news conference today that the bank would brought into "transitional and temporary public ownership".

"This is a temporary measure. The long-term ownership of this bank must lie in the private sector," the chancellor told reporters.

Former Lloyd's of London chief executive Ron Sandler has been brought in by the government to run the bank and claims there will be no major changes, that it would be "business as usual".

The government has come under wide spread attack recently for its handling of the Northern Rock crisis.

Last year the mortgage lender was forced into asking the Bank of England for emergency funding, leading to the first run on a bank in over a hundred years.

For this story in depth and more on Northern Rock visit inthenews.co.uk , also part of the Adfero news network.