Parties close ranks to confront credit crisis

By Tim Castle

BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) - Opposition parties pledged Tuesday to work with the government to counter the global financial crisis that has forced the nationalisation of two banks.

Chancellor Alistair Darling held talks with the economics spokesmen of the main opposition parties, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, to discuss how to respond to the financial storm.

"I made it clear that the Conservative Party stands ready to do whatever we can to help in this extremely difficult situation and bring some stability to the British economy," the Conservatives' George Osborne said after the meeting.

He said he offered Conservative support in winning approval for a new banking law, which the government plans to introduce when parliament returns from its summer recess next week.

The law will strengthen supervision and give regulators powers to step in when a bank is failing to seize its assets and save customers' deposits.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "These exceptional times require a suspension of normal political hostilities and a rapid move towards a cross-party consensus on how we might prepare for the worst case scenario."

The Treasury declined comment on Darling's meetings with the opposition figures, but Brown said he welcomed the "support for what we are doing from the two (opposition) party leaders."

"We listen to what people are saying," he told Sky News.