Brown bending his own fiscal rules

LONDON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The recession means Britain needs to break the rules of fiscal prudence he set as chancellor of the exchequer, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday.

David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, charged afterward that Brown hoped to spend his way out of the economic slump, The Daily Mail reported.

"Isn't the truth that you have been going around telling everyone you are the new John Maynard Keynes with your plan for a spending splurge?" Cameron asked.

Alistair Darling, Brown's successor as chancellor, gave a major speech Wednesday night on the economy. He denied plans for a major increase in spending but also said that the country should not keep to strict limits on borrowing in the current climate, The Guardian reported.

"To apply the fiscal rules in a rigid manner today would be perverse," he said.

As chancellor, Brown ruled that Britain should only borrow for investment, not for current spending. He said borrowing should be no more than 40 percent of gross domestic product.