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.

