GORDON BROWN NEEDS TO PUT HIS MONEY WHERE HIS MOUTH IS

6.32.23pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 12th Jul 2005

Gordon Brown today met members of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee for the first time since the UK took over the Council Presidency on 1st July.

Sharon Bowles, Liberal Democrat European Economic Spokesman held Gordon Brown to his Lisbon promises, and to the championing of economic reform in Europe (which appeared in a Treasury paper earlier this year.)

Mrs Bowles said "I wonder if Mr Brown practices what he preaches in regards to peer review and learning from better practice. The Treasury commends the Lisbon process of peer review, in its report on prioritising economic reform in Europe, I am very interested to know what he has learned from EU member states of more rapid growth."

After the meeting Sharon Bowles said "The UK Government has given good soundbites about giving strong support for innovation and enterprise but little evidence of how to put it into practice. Research and Development is of prime importance - as Wim Kok's High Level Group pointed out that up to 40% of labour productivity growth is generated by R & D, but cuts in this field are being threatened by the Council".

"If we are to compete globally in high technology, Europe's nations must cooperate as well as compete. Will Mr Brown support a European Institute of Technology to compete with the US Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT)?"

Ends.