Britain's Conservatives turned their fire on Prime Minister Gordon Brown's economic record today after the Labour leader said authorities should have done more to police banks before the credit crisis.
The election, scheduled for May 6th and likely to be a close-run contest, is being partly fought over how to repair and strengthen the economy and cut a record budget deficit following the worst recession since the second World War.
Both Labour and the Conservatives are convinced of the need to toughen up the rules of engagement for high-flying financiers who were able to take big risks with vast sums of money in the years running up to the credit crunch.
Mr Brown, finance minister for a decade before taking over as leader from Tony Blair in 2007, said in an interview with ITV that, while lobby groups at the time felt Labour was being too hard on banks, in hindsight, tougher rules should have been in place.
"All the complaints I was getting from people was, 'Look, you're regulating them too much," Mr Brown said. "Actually the truth is that globally and nationally, we should have been regulating them more."
But the Conservatives, who have seen their pre-election opinion poll lead dwindle in recent months, leapt on the words as an admission of economic incompetence.
"He said this all came from America, and he said that his judgment was right in every regard," opposition Tory leader David Cameron told BBC News 24.
"He's now saying those two things aren't true, that there were big mistakes made here in Britain in the regulatory system that he designed. I'm glad he's finally admitted that some of this was made in Britain by him."
Mr Brown, whose Labour party is facing possible defeat after 13 years in power, has already announced a crackdown on banks, including higher capital requirements and a tax on big bonuses.
"I have been saying since the crisis started that we really didn't have enough global regulation," Brown told reporters during a campaign appearance in northern England.
"We know now that there should be more regulation and, of course, there should be more regulation internationally, and that is why I am trying to get the global financial tax, global supervision and global banking agreement."
Reuters