Brown, Bush meet on economic crisis

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Friday offered support for the Bush administration's proposed $700 billion bailout of U.S. financial markets.

Brown traveled to Washington from New York, where he discussed global poverty and addressed the U.N. General Assembly. At the White House, where he discussed the global financial crisis with President George W. Bush, Brown said Britain "supports the financial plan.

"America and Britain have always stood together as one in times of difficulty and challenge," the prime minister said. "And I said to President Bush this afternoon that facing this global turbulence, Britain supports the financial plan. And whatever the details of it, it's the right thing to do to take us through these difficult circumstances."

Bush said he told Brown the plan "is big enough to make a difference and I believe it is going to be passed."

Brown's support comes as Bush faces opposition for the bailout from members of his own Republican Party as well as from some Democrats.

Brown met with senior Wall Street financial experts Thursday to discuss how to work through the U.S. economic crisis. He said he wants to help facilitate an overhaul of international regulation, emphasizing more transparency and changing the compensation and board structures of larger financial services groups, The Financial Times reported.