Brown: families 'understand' reasons for £500 million bank bail-out

Families understand the importance of putting the banking system on a sure footing, Gordon Brown said today following the Government's £500 billion bank rescue.

The Prime Minister said he would be travelling around the country over the next two days to talk to parents about the current economic situation and explain how the Government was dealing with it.

He took a brief break from dealing with the financial crisis today to play playground games with toddlers at a SureStart nursery at the Beormund Community Centre in Bermondsey, south-east London, accompanied by Schools Secretary Ed Balls.

Speaking in the playground about how he could reassure parents about the bank rescue, Mr Brown said: "Banks are so important to our financial system and we've got to put the banking system on a sure footing once and for all.

"But this is with strings attached, on a something-for-something, nothing-for-nothing basis.

"I think parents understand this."

He insisted the use of £500 billion of public money to prop up the banks was not about rewarding irresponsibility.

"I think all the hard-working families I meet value hard work, effort and enterprise, but we've got to penalise excessive and irresponsible risk-taking.

"This is not about rewarding the kind of irresponsibility that's done so much damage in the US."

He also stressed the importance of working with other world leaders to tackle what was a "global problem".

He said: "We're going to have to get agreements on the basic principles that underlie the banking system so that what's happened in the US can no longer affect what happens here."

Mr Brown and Mr Balls chatted to parents and toddlers at the nursery and got involved in some of the children's activities - with Mr Balls braving the clay table and the sand tray in his clean suit and tie.

Suzy Clements, 37, a media consultant whose young children attend the SureStart nursery, said: "Brown was very easy to talk to - much more personable than he comes across on TV.

"But I would have liked to talk to him about my financial concerns because I don't get any maternity pay as I'm self-employed."

But although the visit was billed as an opportunity for Mr Brown to talk to parents about the impact on them of current events in the financial world, his conversation with them largely stayed away from the subject of the state of the economy.

Rosemary Whitlock, director of the Beormund centre, said: "You can tell Brown and Balls have kids because they were really good with the children here."

Mr Brown previously visited the centre in May to launch the Your Voice programme, aimed at getting the public involved in the content of the Queen's speech, a spokesman said.