Britain will push for greater economic reform in Europe when it takes over the union's presidency later this year, British finance minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday. With just a week left before the May 5 general election and on the eve of the publication of his Labour party's business manifesto, Brown promised to make the case for a better functioning, more flexible and more open single market. "In our coming presidency of the European Union we will seek to bring all political parties together to work in unison for economic reform in Europe," Brown said, according to the text of his speech. "The businesses I talk to do not want to look inwards but outwards to new markets and across the country and across all political parties they want a united consensus pressing for economic reform and surely this is in the British national interest." Britain takes over the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of the year. Brown pledged to cut down on red tape that was hampering wealth creation. "Because 40 percent of major new regulations come from Europe, Britain has agreed with other countries to put regulatory reform at the heart of our EU presidency," he said.
Brown, seen as Prime Minister Tony Blair's most likely successor, said a returning Labour government would also push for a better trade relationship with the United States and the removal of regulatory and other barriers between America and Europe. He said that business must also wake up to the opportunities offered by fast-growing economies like China and India. "And in the fast expanding financial services, we will match the successful UK-China financial dialogue with a UK-India dialogue," Brown said.