Britain’s Chancellor, Alistair Darling will attend a meeting of the European Commission and EU finance ministers today. The political leaders will negotiate and plot through the weekend, in the meantime.

A hugely controversial bailout will be agreed by European leaders today, in order to avoid a "systemic crisis" of the single currency. After a summit of the leaders of the 16 Eurozone countries, the ministers are meeting to create a safety net for the Euro.

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s announcement that the Government would abolish stamp duty on homes costing up to £250000 for the first-time buyers, received a mixed response.

On the one hand, first-time buyers are happy with the announcement as estimates suggest that the move will benefit as many as 350,000 first-time buyers by the end of current year.

The announcement is expected to housing market too because it would encourage a large number of first-time buyers to purchase houses.

In his last budget before the general elections, Chancellor Alistair Darling announced the abolition of stamp duty on homes costing up to £250000 for the first-time buyers.

However, the move has been described as a bit of damp squib. Many experts are of the view that the Government has exaggerated the number of first-time buyers who will actually benefit from the stamp duty holiday.

As per the SNP, around 75 per cent of first-time buyers will not benefit from the announced stamp duty holiday.

In the budget that will be presented on Wednesday, it is expected that Alistair Darling will make a call to the MPs regarding slicing the deficit to half by 2013-2014 and will state that Plans to slash the annual level of Government borrowing are invariable. It is also expected that the budget will offer detailed proposal for tax on banks to blanket cost of current bailouts.

The United Kingdom has offered more flexibility to reach a deal with the government of Iceland for about £2.3 billion that the island nation owed it since the collapse of the online savings bank Icesave.

Chancellor, Alistair Darling has said that Britain is "prepared to be flexible" even as the people in Iceland overwhelmingly voted 'NO' in a referendum to decide the deal in which the country will pay its debt.

Finance minister Alistair Darling’s plans to put off spending cuts got a boost when more than 60 leading economists said public spending cuts should be delayed to support the fragile economy.

Earlier in December, Mr. Darling had announced that spending cuts held up until 2011. But, at that time several critics saw the announcement as Labour’s tactic to attract votes in general elections due by June.

The Government’s latest annual budget, to be announced in March, will focus more on growth than sternness to deal with the deficit. It will be made public, before the country’s general election takes place.

The Finance Minister Mr. Alistair Darling revealed that the main concern of the budget will be “growth” as the ruling party seems to maintain power in elections due by June.

Darling says, "I will take steps to provide the country with a strong platform to generate opportunity and jobs in the future".

Chancellor Alistair Darling said on Friday that the UK is on track to sustainable economic growth and banking reforms are vital to make it successful.

Mr. Darling called for a quick agreement on regulatory changes to keep up momentum emerged after the recent economic crisis.

He said higher capital requirements are also required, but he added that proprietary trading is only a small fraction of what several banks do.

He stressed on international agreement is necessary to insure taxpayers against a future financial crisis.

Public sector employees may see a cut in their pays & bonuses as Chancellor Alistair Darling has said that public sector should follow private sector as far as pays & bonuses are concerned.

Mr. Darling said public sector employees should accept a reduction in pas & bonuses if they want to remain on to their jobs.

He said that figures showed that the private sector workers accepted wage cuts and held on to their jobs.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has said that the British government has plans to impose US-style levy on British banks to repay taxpayers for huge bailouts.

US President Barack Obama has plans to impose 0.15 per cent charge on liabilities of the financial institutions.

But, Mr. Darling said Britain would not follow the US as the US was doing something different. He added that the UK had purchased shares in the troubled banks which could be sold in future. However, he did not provide any deadline for the sale of Government's stake in banks.

A cross-party group of MPs criticized Chancellor Alistair Darling for lack of clarity on debt-cutting strategy.

The Treasury Select Committee, which expressed discontent over Alistair Darling’s last month pre-budget report, warned that the Government must work out clear plans to tame 178 billion budget deficit sooner than later.

The group of MPs also said that its expert witnesses were disapproved of pre-budget report as it did not provide sufficient details.

UK chancellor Alistair Darling advised Iceland to repay the money lost in a failed Icelandic bank for making the things run smooth for the nation. The move assumes significance as Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Iceland President is likely to decide on the reimbursement of nearly €4bn lost by British and Dutch savers in Icesave, in a short time.

Iceland's government has been facing stiff opposition from the public for the repayment but the move is necessary for securing support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and maintaining its credibility in the market.

A new survey, carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, has hinted that public sectors employees do not seem to have adjusted their expectations to meet the current financial realities, and most of them are still expecting high pay rises that would be in-line with the hikes that they have always been receiving, or maybe even higher.

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report could have been more radical if he was not forced by political motives in the run-up to general elections.

Mr. Darling reportedly had plans to reinforce troubled markets by announcing a much tougher package of spending cuts and tax increases.

VAT is scheduled to return to 17.5 per cent from January. He was favouring it to increase above 17.5 per cent, but Prime Minister Gordon Brown wanted the tax to remain a dividing line between the Labour and the Conservatives.

British Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced plans of imposing a 50% tax on the bonuses that are awarded by major banks, a move which will force these banks to choose between "punishing shareholders or employees".

The tax, imposed yesterday, has to be paid by all operating British banks on bonuses that will be awarded to the employees till April 05. The move will, according to the Treasury, raise nearly 550 Million Pounds ($890 Million), and will affect as many as 20,000 people.