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Gordon Brown addresses European Parliament

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the preparations of the forthcoming G20 Summit.

Gordon Brown said Europe is "uniquely placed" to provide world leadership in the economic downturn because of its history of co-operation.

He told the European Parliament that the UK was not "in Europe's slipstream but firmly in its mainstream". The EU had to promote a "principled economy", involving the implementation of "tough regulatory standards".

Commenting on the Prime Ministers’ speech, West Midlands MEP Neena Gill said,"Gordon Brown is leading the fight against the global downturn and he is right to urge the European Parliament to build a consensus to craft a way out of this unprecedented global economic storm. Meanwhile the Tories keep on fighting amongst themselves about whether to be in or out of Europe."

"David Cameron, by withdrawing his MEPs from the mainstream centre right party of Sarkozy and Merkel, is leading his Tories to a political tundra. By putting dogma before the national interest he is even losing the support of the decent women and men in his own Party. With Christopher Beazley leaving the Tory delegation today, we can see that he does not even have the support of his own Members."

"The choice on June 4th is stark. We either give our workers and businesses the means to defend themselves in this economic storm or we allow the Conservatives to put up the shutters and say Britain is closed for business."