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British PM vows to put bankers' bonus crackdown into law
Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised on Sunday to introduce legislation to "transform" the policing of Britain's financial sector when his government sets out its political programme this week.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised on Sunday to introduce legislation to "transform" the policing of Britain's financial sector when his government sets out its political programme this week.
Brown said a Financial Services Bill would offer tough new powers to regulators to tear up bankers' contracts if they include excessive pay and bonus deals which might threaten the stability of the financial system.
Some observers blame the bonus culture of the world's two pre-eminent financial sectors -- the City of London and Wall Street -- for encouraging excessive risk-taking, which helped to tip the global economy into chaos.
Speaking in a podcast on the Downing Street website ahead of Wednesday's policy-setting Queen's Speech in parliament, Brown said Britain had a "bright future" ahead after the economic turmoil of the past year.
He insisted that despite being one of the few major European economies still in recession, Britain had fared well in terms of jobs and repossessions compared with the last slump in the early 1990s.
The main opposition Conservatives have promised to introduce belt-tightening measures if they defeat Brown's Labour Party in next year's general election, but Brown said he "optimistic" about the coming period.
