Brown offers cash-strapped UK renewal, not spending

Gordon Brown, publishing his Labour Party’s election platform as polls show him trailing in the race to remain prime minister, offered voters “national renewal” as the record budget deficit limited his room to increase spending. The Financial Services Authority will be given more powers to limit bank executives’ remuneration and to act if rules on bonuses are being evaded. If elected, Labour will break up the banks it has controlling shares in, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc, while finding a “mutual solution” for Northern Rock Plc, nationalized in 2008. Government will get the power to block takeovers of infrastructure and utility companies on national interest grounds, and other buyouts will require a two-thirds majority in the shareholder vote. Labour also says it will “examine” the case for limiting votes to those who owned stock before the buyout was announced.

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