Brown to introduce 15 billion pound package to end UK economic slump

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is planning urgent tax cuts in a 15-billion-pound package of measures to combat the economic slump in the country.

According to The Mirror, Brown is considering extending tax credits to help more low-paid families as Britain teeters on the brink of recession. He is also looking at extending the stamp-duty "holiday" on more modestly-priced homes to help first-time buyers and revive the crisis-hit property market.

Other possible measures include a "significant" increase in winter fuel allowances and a further delay to rises in petrol duty.

According to The Mirror, Chancellor Alistair Darling is working on the rescue package which he will unveil in his Pre-Budget Report this month.

Brown will spell out his determination to build on Thursday's 1.5 per cent cut in interest rates in a major speech tomorrow.

And at the weekend he will meet President Bush in Washington to discuss the global crisis at the G20 world leaders' summit. Brown has already phoned Barack Obama to discuss the slump and the President-elect's plans for a "stimulus package" to boost the US economy.

Brown and Darling are keen to work with Obama and are looking at drawing up proposals which they hope will be copied across the globe.