Darling: World will back new bank taxes; IMF cuts UK growth - papers

The G20 group of rich and poor countries is likely to make rapid progress on a radical IMF plan to tax the world's financial institutions in the hope of reaching a deal by the end of the year, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, said today.

Speaking to The Guardian, the chancellor said that Britain, the US and the eurozone countries were agreed that action needed to be taken to cut banks down to size and to prevent another crisis putting pressure on public finances. Despite opposition from Canada, which will host the next G20 meeting this summer, Darling said pressure from those countries with major financial centres would keep the issue high on the agenda. The resilience of Canada's banks during the three-year financial crisis has made Ottawa reluctant to discuss taxes on finance at the G20, but the chancellor said: "If...