Gordon Brown on Tuesday spearheaded calls for a multi-billion pound “bail-out fund” to prevent the global crisis spreading to more countries, and warned of the need to stabilise economies “across eastern Europe”.

Alistair Darling will on Thursday night reiterate the government’s call for international action to address the “unprecedented turbulence” in the world economy. The chancellor will use the annual Mais Lecture to signal he is scrapping Mr Brown’s golden rules that control borrowing in the short-term. Mr Darling is expected to assert that this reflects changing global circumstances, rather than a failure of past Labour policy.