Fear of redundancy has spread to almost half of full-time British workers; a poll has showed after a new economic rescue plan was met by plunging bank share prices.
The British Government bailout has sent bank share prices tumbling as 49 per cent of workers said in an Ipsos Mori Survey that they were worried the recession would force them out of their jobs within the next 12 months.
The poll also showed Prime Minister Gordon Brown to be the target for blame -with the Tories gaining 10 points on Labour to lead by 14 points, the Daily Express reported. Brown on Monday launched another desperate attempt to shore up the economy, gambling potentially hundreds of billions of pounds in an attempt to kick-start lending.
He and Chancellor Alistair Darling announced a fresh raft of measures designed to restore confidence in the banking sector and unblock the flow of credit. They included taxpayer-backed insurance against expected “toxic” debts, powers for the Bank of England to buy up to 50 billion pounds of high-quality assets from banks and other financial institutions to improve liquidity and increasing the Government’s stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to nearly 70 per cent from 58 per cent.
Brown voiced anger at the losses, which he blamed on “clearly wrong” investments, amid speculation the bank, whose shares closed down 67 percent may require a full-scale nationalisation.
Brown voiced anger at the losses, which he blamed on “clearly wrong” investments, amid speculation the bank, whose shares closed down 67 percent may require a full-scale nationalisation.
Lloyds Banking Group suffered a 34 per cent fall and Barclays and HSBC finished off 10 percent and 6 per cent respectively and London’s FTSE 100 Index slumped more than two percent at one stage as the market gave a poor reception to the rescue plan.