Brown's war on animal protesters

GORDON Brown has thrown his weight behind drugs companies in their battle against militant animal rights protesters.

The Chancellor told the CBI conference in Birmingham that firms conducting 'potentially life-saving research' must be protected from 'constant attack' from extremists.

Promoting scientific research will be a key theme in the pre-Budget report next month. The Chancellor sees high level research as vital if the UK is to compete with emerging markets such as China and India.

He is aware that activists have landed the pharmaceuticals industry with multimillion pound bills for security and that they may deter investment in Britain by overseas firms.

Animal rights groups have waged terror campaigns against drugs companies including GlaxoSmithKline and drove testing group Huntingdon Life Sciences off the UK stock market.

The Chancellor took a statesman-like tone in his address to the business gathering in a clear bid to rise above the jibes of Peter Mandelson, incoming European-Commissioner for Trade.

Mandelson appeared to chide Brown on Monday for 'exaggerated gloating' over his handling of the economy.

Brown said his mission is to build 'a patriotic vision' for Britain by encouraging enterprise. He dismissed City critics who predict he will break his self-imposed golden rule of borrowing only to invest.

'As long as I am Chancellor we will meet all our fiscal rules,' he said.

He added that he will not bail people out of the multi-billion pound pensions crisis because he is not prepared to put financial stability at risk.

Brown has been criticised for making the pensions situation worse by scrapping dividend tax credits in 1997 which has cost funds £5bn a year. He blamed his hosts, the CBI, for first proposing the move.