PM urges global 'grand bargain'
 Mr Brown has held talks with the head of the IMF |
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said world leaders are working towards a "global deal and grand bargain" to deal with the economic downturn.
He told his monthly press conference that the whole world had to preserve "an open economy", rather than move towards protectionism.
Leaders were working together to help "working families", he added.
Mr Brown was speaking after talks with International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Khan.
He said: "I think we are fashioning for the future a global deal and grand bargain where each continent fulfils its responsibilities and its obligations and act to deal with what is a global problem."
'Taken the lead'
The government has launched a document outlining its policies and aims in the run-up to the G20 economic summit in London in April.
 |  There is no possibility anyway of a job called Global Financial Regulator  Gordon Brown  |
Mr Brown said: "Most people looking at Britain say we have taken the lead in the measures to prevent a global collapse."
On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama signed a $787bn economic stimulus package.
Several other countries have programmes in place.
Mr Brown said: "I want us to work together to see how we can stimulate the world economy and get more jobs, and address the problems of regulation and see how it can be achieved."
He added: "The old orthodoxies will not serve us well in the future. We've got to think the previously unthinkable. We've got to do what was previously undoable.
"The co-operation that's needed around the world is not something that has been achieved before - but I believe it can be achieved to meet the needs of our times."
The prime minister brushed aside the suggestion that he was tempted to step down to become the "world's financial regulator".
He said: "There is no possibility anyway of a job called Global Financial Regulator. I want get on with the job I'm doing.
"My priority is to help people in this country who are facing problems with their mortgages, problems with their jobs and problems with small business finance."
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