This year's Budget will be held in "two weeks' time", Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed.

The 24 March statement will be six weeks ahead of the widely expected general election date of 6 May.

In a speech in Docklands, east London, Mr Brown said the government had guided the economy through a "storm".

The Tories say Labour cannot be trusted on the economy and the deficit must be cut immediately. The Lib Dems say the economy is too fragile to allow this.

Britain is "prepared to be flexible" to reach a deal with Iceland over the £2.3bn debt owed since the collapse of the online savings bank Icesave, the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, said yesterday.

But there is still no clear way out of the deadlock, as negotiators go back to the drawing board in the wake of Icelanders' overwhelming "no" in last weekend's referendum on the issue.

"The fundamental point for us is that we get our money back, but in terms of the terms and conditions we are prepared to be flexible, because it's not in our interest to have Iceland excluded," said Mr Darling.

the chancellor, alistair darling, has admittedtoday that it will be "many, many years" before iceland pays back the money it owes the british and dutch governments, which stepped in to guarantee deposits after the online bank icesave went bust

LONDON - Chancellor Alistair Darling has revealed how British Prime Minister Gordon Brown unleashed the 'forces of hell' in order to bully him.

Darling claimed that Brown's spin-doctors knifed him in the back after he predicted the recession would be the worst for 60 years.

'The weekend after I'd done this interview the forces of hell were unleashed,' The Sun quoted him, as saying.

Asked whether the briefings came from Downing Street, he replied: 'Yes, and the Tories jumped on the bandwagon too. Nobody likes that sort of briefing that goes on, of course there were people saying things.'

Feb. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had nothing to do with his aides briefing against his Chancellor, Alistair Darling, after the U.K. finance minister described attacks on him in 2008.

Darling told Sky News yesterday that when he returned to work after giving an interview warning the country faced the worst recession in 60 years “the forces of hell were unleashed.” Asked if this came from Brown’s office, Darling replied “not just them.”

filed at 6:12 a.m. et london (reuters) - bank of england monetary policy committee member kate barker will step down when her term ends on may 31, but chief economist spencer dale will be reappointed to the mpc for another three years. the treasury said that barker, who has served on the mpc since 2001, will not seek reappointment for a fourth term, and that there would probably be a short vacancy on the mpc as the post would only be advertised once a new parliament was elected. "i would like to take this opportunity to thank kate for the major contribution she has made since she joined the committee," said chancellor alistair darling.

london (dow jones)--bank of england governor mervyn king said tuesday that the monetary policy committee is committed to taking whatever action is necessary to keep inflation steady in the medium term, be that making more asset purchases or raising

filed at 3:44 a.m. et london (reuters) - chacellor alistair darling said on monday he would do more to cut the budget deficit if the economy recovers faster than expected, but that current plans to halve it over four years were adequate. a group

Goldman Sachs bankers are forecast to enjoy an 81% rise in their pay and bonuses for 2009, even though the bank may be forced to respond to political pressure by reducing the amount of money it sets aside for employee payouts in the fourth quarter of the year.

Goldman is braced for a furore this week when it completes the US bank reporting season on Thursday, following the row sparked by rival JP ­Morgan when it disclosed on Friday that it would be handing out $9.3bn (£5.7bn) in bonuses and salaries for 2009.

How times change. About a month ago Alistair Darling, the UK's finance minister, announced a 50 per cent supertax on bank bonuses, leading to a volley of protests that the British government was imperilling UK banks and giving a competitive boost to rival financial centres in Europe and the US.

However, within a day, France had followed suit with a similar tax. On Thursday, came news of the Obama levy - a 0.15 per cent tax on bank balance sheets to be charged on all big banks operating in the US.

LONDON-Britain will not copy President Barack Obama's tax on banks that were bailed out by the taxpayer, Treasury chief Alistair Darling said in an interview published Saturday.

Obama is proposing a tax of 0.15 percent on the liabilities of large financial institutions in a bid to recoup at least $90 billion spent rescuing the sector from collapse.

Darling told The Scotsman newspaper that Britain was not considering a similar plan.

LONDON-London Mayor Boris Johnson has warned that thousands of high earning bankers will flee London because of the government's tougher taxes on bonuses.

In a letter to Treasury chief Alistair Darling released on Friday, Johnson seeks an urgent meeting to discuss the introduction of new tax rates for top earners and a temporary 50 percent levy on bank bonuses above 25,000 pounds ($40,700).

"You have made unilateral changes to taxation that risk damaging London's competitiveness and its status, alongside New York, as the world's leading financial-services center," Johnson wrote in the letter.

Gordon Brown was accused of 'deception' yesterday as it emerged he plans to stay silent on the need for spending cuts until after the General Election.

The Prime Minister's latest Government relaunch was overshadowed when Lord Mandelson revealed that the Government is shelving plans to set out Whitehall budgets beyond 2011.

By pulling rank over Chancellor Alistair Darling, Lord Mandelson prompted Cabinet disarray, with the Treasury insisting Mr Darling had not made any decisions on the timing of the next public spending review, which had been due this autumn.

The far right group won its first two seats in Brussels as the Labour vote collapsed with party leader Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons winning seats in the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.

It came as Mr Brown began to reshuffle the Cabinet in a last-ditch attempt to reassert his authority in the wake of the dramatic resignation of James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary.

Mr Brown is considering removing Mr Darling from the Treasury and replacing him with Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary and his closest political adviser.

June 3 (Bloomberg) -- Gordon Brown risks a rift in hisgovernment like the one that brought down Margaret Thatcher 19years ago as he considers replacing Alistair Darling asBritain’s chancellor of the exchequer.

The chancellor, Alistair Darling, suffered a fresh embarrassment today when he admitted getting his figures wrong over how much he had overclaimed in expenses.

Embattled Darling, who is responsible for the nation's finances, said in a round of broadcast interviews last night that he was repaying £350 for service charges on his London flat.

The shadow minister for the Cabinet Office owned the house outright but in 2006 took out a £345,000 mortgage on the flat about one minute’s walk away. He then rented out the house and began claiming mortgage interest payments on the flat which is in a grade II listed building with a gym and 24-hour concierge.

MPs' expenses investigation in depth

Douglas Alexander: spent more than £30,000 doing up his constituency home – which then suffered damage in a house fire.