Brown 'confident' about economy

Gordon Brown has told the BBC that Britain is better placed than other countries to cope with the downturn, despite an IMF forecast which suggested the opposite.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Politics Show's Jon Sopel, Mr Brown said he understood people's worries about jobs, but said holding wildcat strikes to protest against the employment of some foreigners in the UK, was "not defensible".

Mr Brown also said he was "utterly confident" about the future of the UK economy.