work, more consistent. [inaudible] >> i think that is a potential. that might help to give you that consistency. because i think when you look at how it's handled certain different cases. of course, i wasn't sitting in the meeting, i didn't hear all the arguments. i haven't read every single report but when you look at different cases and how they have been handled it does seem like sometimes there's a bit of variability there which perhaps doesn't entirely answer public confidence. >> in the should take money for lobbying in any form? >> yes, it would be one way of doing it. it seems to me, this was looked at by nolan and kelly. i think no one in particular. that's what they know advocacy rule came in which isn't a good and strong and tough rule. i think the first question you go to ask you should to be any outside interest at all, should

mp's be able to exit income from any extra jobs. i've always taken the position that yes, they should because being a backbench mp, giving you can be a backbench mp and a minister, being a backbench mp, yes it's a full on job, yes it's a very important job but i think some connection with the outside world is not a bad thing and not impossible to do while being a good member of parliament. that's the first question you have to ask. the second question is how close they can those jobs get to anything that impacts our contacts with government. the current rule is no advocacy, and very strict rules about how it interacts with lobbying. do we need to look at that again? yes, but i come back to when i said in my remarks that most of the suggestions i've heard don't actually deal with those issues, actually. and that is a problem. you have to think before you regulate or legislate does this

actually deal with the problems that we are facing. and so for all of the suggestions i've seen, some of the mill, many other things would make a difference, doubling the period before ministers can take a job, extending the work of the business appointments, all of these things would help if they're not actual kittles. >> jean? >> thank you. on the banks you said if there's no international agreement the amount raise which beat much more. are we looking taking a lead in that case? and secondly, in the budget we're expecting this idea that every bench should be required by law, is that legislation a conservative government would introduce? >> on the second issue, let's look at the detail. clearly there is a problem with people who are left out of the financial system. they're not just his advantage by not having a bank account, they're also disadvantaged because that make you can get

the lower tariffs for your electricity bill or gas bill. so let's look at that. it seems proper examination. would be token? not necessarily. there's let you can do if there isn't agreement that if there is. james? >> cannot ask you about specific choice, they suggested the winter fuel of violence should be cut for pensioners aged under 65 immediately, not over 10 years as the government suggests. can you tell us what a conservative government would or wouldn't do to change the winter fuel allowance? >> we would keep the winter fuel allowance. let me take this opportunity to say very clearly to any pensioner who is watching this or reading any of these reports, i know if you are getting letters from the labour party that says the conservatives would cut the winter fuel allowance, would cut the free bus travel, what could the free television license. those statements by labor are quite simply lives. i don't use the word lie very often but i'm using it today

because they are life. the conservative government would keep the winter fuel allowance, which keep the free television license, would keep the extra money for pensioners. do not be frightened by a government that is trying to scare you into not opting for change. it is totally irresponsible and if the prime minister has a compass, can you please dig it out from under the compass -- couch, and have his constituents from lying about it. [inaudible] >> we will keep what we inherit and all of those important areas. all of the things that labor are saying are complete and utter lies. >> francis? >> what -- >> and a note, too. get the leaflets and see what they are saying about. that's who they're out of the government in this country the

better. francis? >> what message do you have to take on retiring tory mp's. secondly, are you still committed to saying more than a government be more specific about cuts after the budget in terms of the recent energy? >> what i would say to public affairs, it is no be no special access for anybody. second thing and it does need to be said, there is a role for properly conducted lobbying. i mean, government does need to listen to the charities, to the social enterprises, to the business. they do need to listen to the point of view they have. parliament needs to listen to all the different interest when it legislature, and it does need to hear what business, what trade bodies, what charities think about legislation. there is a proper process for these organizations to talk to parliament, to talk to government. so there is a role for public affairs, for lobbying and for setting out your position. but it's got to be done in a proper, transparent, open and

decent way. that's what needs to change, and as i said in my remarks, i know this is a problem for every government. it's a problem at the end of governments and we saw that at the end of major government. we're we're seeing that in spades that. frankly, it's a problem for new governments. the new mp's arrive. the new ministers get their jobs at the new governments starts, i know this will happen. that is why i made that speech a few weeks ago. that's what i'm talking about this today. i want to do the things to try and make sure that nothing improper happens as a result. you will never get rid of all the problems and all the difficulties that they will always be at apples who will do something that they shouldn't. but you can take lots of sales, whether they'll regulatory steps, transparency steps, accountability steps, culture steps to try and clean up the system and make a better. and it depresses me, because i think that building, you know, a few hundred yards from where we are, can be a great place.

we have a fantastic opportunity to have a brilliant parliament that does great things with this country that brings changes that we need. it sickens me to see it dragged into the mud, everyone thinking politicians are just sleazy pigs after their own gain. but we are not actually. there is a real role for politics to change things and make things better. a new government, a new prime minister, a new parliament with fire and about about changing the country could make a difference. we have about 44 days to help make it happen. thank you very much indeed. >> recently british prime minister gordon brown spoke about the economy at this meeting of the foreign press association. and he also answered questions about national security that israeli palestinian relations, and the upcoming british elections. this is just under an hour. >> i described the five great

global challenges of our time to cement global recovery, to hold climate change, to fight terrorism, to reduce nuclear proliferation and to turn the tide against poverty around the world. and i think 2010 is a make or break year. for the first time in one, 12 month period the world will come together in forums in each and all of these five great global challenges. in fact, there are 10 important global meetings of the world community which could shape what we face in the next 10 years, 10 moments of opportunity and challenge when the decisions reached by the international committee will determine the fortunes of millions and when our commitment and resolve to work together will be tested. this begins next month with president obama's nuclear security conference and runs through to the climate change conference in mexico in the summer. britain wants to see, and we have proposals for, a renewed drive for internatiinternational co-op ration to secure a safer and more prosperous world.

i think it is right first of all to take stock of our collective effort and the challenges we must now confront. my conclusion is stark. at the height of the global financial crisis, we came together in unprecedented cooperation to fight back against the recession. here in london almost one year ago, and then with president obama in pittsburgh later in the autumn, we forged the foundation of a global plan to protect jobs and growth. it was a plan that would also reform the international institutions and will transform banking regulation. there was a new spirit in the international community that was visible for all to see. now i believe we must do far more, urgently, to build upon that brief moment of collective international will. it is why 2010 must not be a year of drift, dominate by our international differences. 2010 must be a year of drive and

delivery, dominated, inspired and guided by what unites us across the international community. and i believe that this will summon us to have new levels of commitment and leadership. the truth we have learned in the last two years is that global problems cannot be answered by national or even regional solutions alone. global problems need global solutions and we need more, not less, global cooperation. and that is why i'm such a committed internationalist and a passionate european. there are not easy national solutions to the problems we face, but there are international solutions. and we must turn outward and not inward, so i disagree with those who misguidedly seek an isolationist and anti-european option. now let me just take the challenges in turn. on the international economy, we

came together to deliver the largest stimulus the world has ever seen with the potential to save or create nearly 20 million jobs last year alone. we agreed more than 1 trillion in the resources available through the international community and for trade finance to stabilize the global economy. for the first time we agreed a common approach to cleaning up banks balance sheets and restoring lending, and as a result of decisions we took at the bungee 20 in april, a more severe global recession was prevented. but now is the time to take the next steps to complete the task of rebuilding the global economy and to strengthen the international financial supervision in the coming months. at the g-20 and the g8 summits in canada and in korea in the next few months, and at the spring and annual meetings of the international monetary fund and world bank, we must now show a fresh and urgent collective commitment to fully implement the g-20 framework for strong, balanced and sustainable growth.

and we must do more to coordinate more effectively the regulation of our financial systems and to build a coordinated approach to levies on the banks to deliver a fairer balance between risk and reward right across the world. and i warn the international community that if we do not restore the same level of cooperation, heightened cooperation, that we saw in the last year, a we may not be able to secure the growth and the jobs that every country and every nation around the world wants to see. i do see signs of progress on a world trade deal, and we in britain are ready to make our contribution to making that elusive deal real. on climate change, despite the disappointment of the copenhagen meeting, we have made more progress than i think has been recognized. the copenhagen accord has now been supported by over 100 countries, covering around 80 percent of global emissions.

70 have submitted emissions reduction targets and plans. if these commitments are implemented, they will see global emissions peaking at or before 2020. so one of our goals is being achieved and these commitments could therefore hold the global temperature rise to 2 degrees as we wanted it to do. yet, at the same time, there remains much to do. first we must implement the accord. that means fast-start finance for developing countries for the 2010-12 period, to which the british government has pledged 1.5 billion pounds. and we must raise the 100 billion pounds a year that is agreed as to global financing deal for 2020. so i want to announce that on the 31st of march in london we will hold the first meeting of the global finance group, that is the advisory group on global financing established by the united nations general secretary, which i am cochairing with prime minister meles of

ethiopia. we must also reestablish negotiations towards an internationally binding global agreement using the important meetings in germany and mexico this year to accelerate this goal. my third proposition is we must drive towards creating a low carbon economy and that is why in the budget next week britain will announce new plans to promote investment in clean energy and in the thousands of new green jobs that this can create. i want to say something about security, because the challenges are changing. today we face a new kind of terrorism and potential conflicts over resources, cybercrime, piracy and global increases in illegal migration all point to problems that we have got to solve as an international community. we have funded our armed forces fighting in iraq and afghanistan, but we also continued to increase investment in strong borders and counterterrorism at home. from a billion a year on domestic counterterrorism in 2001, to over 3 billion now, and

at every time we are vigilant in protecting the national security of our country against terrorists who would cause damage. now, this must be combined with decisive action to tackle terrorism and extremism abroad, including building up other countries capacity to deal with terrorists themselves. terrorist activity coming out of the yemen and somalia has become an increasing problem, but because of the scale of the activity plan from the region in afghanistan and particularly the pakistan border, our priority remains that border area. we look forward to the kabul conference. we will gather in washington and in new york next month to discuss the forth challenge, that of nuclear security and proliferation. now, direct military threats to the u.k., both conventional and nuclear, have sharply declined since the end of the cold war. we cannot yet be confident that such threats will not reemerge,

so it is right that our objective remains multilateral disarmament and that the u.k. retains a credible and continuous nuclear deterrent as well as strong, balanced conventional forces. but we must act now with our global partners to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons or nuclear material falling into the hands of rogue states or terrorist groups. and that is why we are join with president obama to secure all fissile material across the globe over the next four years. it is why i can state today that in light of this we will invite the international atomic energy authority to carry out a security inspection at sellafield and we will make funds available for similar inspections in areas of greatest concern. today we will also launch our nuclear center of excellence, through which the u.k. can lead global efforts to secure the safe global expansion of civil nuclear power. and we commit to renew the g8 global partnership beyond 2012

with a renewed focus on nuclear and biological security. countries like iran, who try secretly to develop nuclear weapons, must face concerted and decisive action by the international community, including more far-reaching international sanctions. i want to make one final comment about poverty around the world. in new york six months ago, we lost an histori and historic dro provide free health care to the world's poorest people and as a result millions of women and children will receive free health care for the first time. in education we are succeeding. we have already got 40 million more children into school over the last 10 years by the collective efforts of the world community. but on all of this, we have so much further to go. while our determination to meet our aid targets is unbreakable, others, including in the g8, have scaled back their commitments in a way that risks destroying hope for billions in achieving the millennium development goals. so the september poverty summit in new york will be the defining

moment in achieving the poverty goals we set 10 years ago and we must rise to this challenge. now, i do not underestimate how far we have come as an international community in confronting these five global challenges in recent years. but this is not enough. failure to work more effectively as a global community is not an option. we must better organize ourselves through reforms to the institutions in which we work together, building the clout of the g-20, shaking up the international financial institutions, making the united nations security council more representative. but most of all, we must show far greater collective vigor. historians may look back at this period as one in which countries briefly set aside their national interests in the common good, but before returning to their old ways. or, as i recommend, they will regard this as the period in which we tentatively, then gradually, if often haltingly,

but indecisive the laid the foundations for sustained global cooperation and the first truly noble society. i believe we must make 2010 the first year we can see the strength of global cooperation making that truly global society possible. i'm happy to answer any questions. >> thank you very much indeed, prime minister. and now we will take questions in groups of three. if you could please wait for the roving mike so state your name and organization, and ask these one question only. thank you very much. yes? >> hello. swiss television. you mentioned banking regulation. the route acidity very excited about getting their hands on the list of thousands of british taxpayers with accounts and hsbc

private banks switch alone. what you think should be done with the stolen material? what do you think of the attitude of the swiss government who object to stolen material being used for tax controls the? thank you very much. second question, please. >> i am from spain. do you find yourself passionately in your speech, do you think it is desirable to increase the influence certainly of britain and europe of return of free exchange rates between the national currencies given the problems? if not, what would you advise your colleagues and friends in europe to sort out their present problems? >> yes, the next question. just right in the back, please. the lady. >> thank you. i am donna harman from the israeli paper and i was one if

you could talk about, talk about all these global missions and collective work, and how would you respond to some behavior that some called cowboy behavior of the israelis both an incident in dubai if that was in fact israelis, and the recent announcement of building settlements? >> prime minister? >> let me deal first of all with the international financial system and then questions raised by swiss franc, and also raise from spain. i would say that at the g-20 we agreed a formula for the exchange of tax information, and it should be implemented. and we agreed that we would publish lists of countries that were of serving that requirement to exchange tax information. or there would be report and and sanctions by the international community. i give you one example without new agreements with liechtenstein. we have recovered already a billion pounds of money that was

due to the british taxpayer that was being left in liechtenstein. and we appreciate the cooperation that is existing. i think all around the world people know that we will not have sufficient certainty about the future of banking unless we have that exchange of information. so whatever the individual issues with individual countries, the general view must be unless you can have that, the exchange of tax information, then you have countries undercutting other countries, and then undercutting by the poor, and you have real problems about being able to deliver a fairer and effective regulation or supervision of the banking system. as far as the european community is concerned, look, the problem in europe is growth. the problem is achieving a sufficiently high level of growth out of this recession to get unemployment which is above 20 million, and to ensure that as a result of growth, each

country can reduce its deficits. and when we meet in the european council next week, the issue will not be the currency. the issue will be growth. the issue will be how we can agree that europe itself by structural reforms and the action that we take likely as governments can grow. that at the moment every country can export its way out of this recession. but not every country can export and no country import, and so we've got to find a means by which countries except that i thousand sustainable policy requires collective commitment to a single strategy for growth. and that was the purpose of the g-20 in pittsburgh. the purpose was that we agreed that we would meet at individual groups of countries and work out a collective global strategy for getting the maximum growth. and what individual countries would benefit from is a support that other countries gave an of

serving the growth strategy. as a go to the european council next week which is before the imf meetings and then before the g-20 and g8 meetings in canada, people will be determined to set a path for great in the international community and a path that is not upset by some banking failure as a result of our inability to get the supervisor changes that are necessary through the system. on currencies, i would just say that, you know, our decision on the euro was based on five tests that we set that we understood that the dislocation to our economy of meeting these five tests was such that we could not at the moment while incredible in favor of the euro doing at that particular time, but we have a great deal of faith that people will ensure that growth in europe makes the european union which is probably only going to grow by 1% this year and 1% next year and 1% the year

after, grow a lot faster than that to get unemployment and. and when you raise the question of israel, we want a peace settlement that gives a secure and safe israel within its borders, and a viable economic palestinian state. and all of us, there is a quartet meeting in moscow today, which is tony blair is present at and kathy ashton, the european high commissioner on foreign policy. and we want these talks to move forward. i think what has happened in the last few weeks is of great concern. i would want to emphasize the importance of stopping a settlement program, if it is a barrier to further talks that should be taking place between the palestinians and israelis. everybody knows my support for the israeli community and for the state of israel. but i think all of us have got

to think carefully about how we can help over the next few weeks in making sure that the proximity talks and then perhaps further talks are possible and do not on the basis of one or two instances break down. so we will do everything that we can to make sure that we work with other countries towards it the peaceful settlement that everybody can see the contours of, but nobody has yet been able to deliver. >> thank you very much, prime minister. second round of questions. >> jerry from radio. prime minister, some weeks ago when israeli opposition leader tried to come to this country, there was a little problem and ended up you promising there would be rapid action, promise also given by david, foreign secretary. since then we seem to have seen

some form of procrastination. certainly it's impossible now for any israeli leader to come to this country come until at least after the election. can you give assurance that this will be dealt with rapidly? >> second question there, lady in the front. >> good morning, mr. prime minister. i am from 21st century paper. how do you look at situation, things that aren't expected at the end of last year? what kind of information has been brought by to you from -- u.k. foreign minister, if which area you wish to promote cooperation between u.k. and china? thank you. >> thank you, the third question yes, isaac.

>> prime minister, i am from greece. greece has only agreed to fight resulted financial problems and this has caused great deal. is it time for you and not only for e.u. members to do its bit in order to protect the solitary of e.u., or even the peace in europe, are you willing in eurozone to take initiative to help greece and other members of e.u.? just remember to remind that at the end of the day, the only thing that greece is to bar with the same interest rate and other countries. thank you for. >> let me first do with this country on international just action because i think it is important to understand that under the existing fall in countries like britain, estonia and new zealand, there's a facility for a private citizen to take an arrest warrant out to a magistrate against anybody who

is potentially accused of crimes under which there is universal jurisdiction. and we have published proposals, and as it were i have got to correct you on this. we have published proposals to change these laws. we have set a consultation period that ends in the next few weeks. i think at the beginning of april. and we have said we wish to move to clarify and correct if i a situation. wherein on the basis and not on the basis of evidence that people are subject to a private arrest warrant. even though there is insufficient evidence, as will be proved later in many circumstances, or they may be insufficient evidence for a prosecution. so far from doing nothing about it we have taken action. we published our proposals. we have said there is a short consultation period on them. these matters are part of