Nick Brown MP

Last week the Prime Minister announced changes to the structure of the Government to better equip the country to face the world banking crisis. As the Minister for the North East, I am looking forward to the opportunity to put the interests of our region at the very heart of Government. We must work together for [...]

The big story of the past couple of weeks has been the turmoil in the global economy and as we have seen Britain is not immune to these problems. In the North East we’ve already felt the effects with the difficulties at Northern Rock. The action which the Government took to address those difficulties was [...]

A year has passed since Northern Rock hit the headlines with anxious depositors queuing outside its high street branches. The conventional view of the mortgage market amongst the general public was that people deposited their money with banks and building societies and that the banks and building societies lent the money to other people as [...]

The real tests that Governments face are not so unlike the tests that we all face as individuals in our own lives. The test is not that we should never make mistakes. We do. The test is how we go about putting things right when a mistake is made. This is the test that should [...]

Today Alistair Darling delivered his first Budget as Chancellor – it wasn’t flashy or aimed toward the headlines. It was a solid, sustainable budget for turbulent times. There are economic difficulties world-wide, with inter-bank lending getting tighter as a result of America’s own lending crisis. The UK isn’t isolated from the rest of the world – [...]

The global credit squeeze is having an effect right across the developed world. In this context, the Government must not take risks with our country’s banking system – that is why the Government has been supporting Northern Rock since last autumn. The objectives are to protect the hard-fought-for economic stability of our country and to [...]

Last week’s Budget will make a big difference to the North East of England. The expenditure announcements increase spending on public services, take spending on education to the highest levels ever, and raise the point at which people over 65 start to pay income tax by £1,180 – taking 600,000 pensioners across the country out [...]