LONDON, Jan 8 (KUNA) — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had to hurriedly correct himself Tuesday when he appeared to suggest that the Bank of England (Britains Central Bank) was about to cut interest rates.
The British Government has always firmly maintained that the Banks Monetary Policy Committee takes decisions on interest rates independently of ministers.
But in an apparent slip of the tongue at his Downing Street press conference today, the Prime Minister appeared to suggest he had some foreknowledge of the committees next decision due this Thursday.
“With expected inflation low over the next period of time, it makes it possible, made it possible”, he said, hastily correcting his tenses, “for the Bank to cut interest rates late last year”.
Brown declined to be drawn on the timing of the next General Election, after his close lieutenant Ed Balls suggested it would come in 18 months’ time.
The Prime Minister said “I am not speculating about elections, and you wouldn’t expect me to do so after the events of the last few months. What I’m saying is we will not be diverted from the long-term challenges facing this country”.
Brown pointed to his recent announcement of reforms to make the state-funded National Health Service more responsive to patient needs, and the upcoming announcement this Thursday of whether the Government will back a new generation of nuclear power stations.
“If you take all the big decisions that any advanced industrial country has got to make, Britain has got to make these decisions like any country, about secure energy, about building new and affordable houses, about improving transport infrastructure, about a better planning system, about the skills we need for the future”, he told reporters.
“These are the long-term decisions we have to make”.
“My vision is a country where everyone has the chance to realise their potential to the full”, he said.
“I believe that in the big decisions we are making at the moment and announcing over the next few days and weeks, you will see that we are making the right choices for the people of this country”.
“There will come a time where people will want to judge that, but that time is not now. The time now is to make the right choices and I will be judged by the choices that I make”, Brown added.