NRock action saved confidence in UK banks - Darling

The move was one of the first things the Chancellor mentioned in his Budget speech this afternoon. "The action we took last Autumn to protect Northern Rock mean that, despite seeing the worst period of financial disruption in years, we have maintained confidence in the banking system," he says. Darling announced in February that the troubled bank will be nationalised but he insisted it would only be under temporary public ownership. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and a rival in-house management team had both tabled offers for the lender. But Mr Darling rejected them, saying under th...