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Brown plays down second bank injection

Britain’s banks may need another injection of capital from the taxpayer, Gordon Brown acknowledged Sunday, but the prime minister insisted the prospect was not seen as a matter of urgency. Brown and Alistair Darling, chancellor, are instead working on a package of measures intended to boost business lending, and are expected to give details later this month. There is growing speculation in the City – fuelled last month by Charles Bean, deputy Bank of England governor – that the £37bn taxpayer injection last October may prove insufficient. But Brown argued that lack of capital is not the main reason that banks are failing to supply adequate credit to business.

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