G20 summit: live blogging

Bankers should embrace the sort of values that they would teach their children – work hard, do their best and not take risks that would put themselves or others in danger, the Prime Minister will say today.

Gordon Brown will deliver his moral recipe at St Paul’s Cathedral as he prepares to host a summit of world leaders that he hopes will agree a strategy to clean up the banking system and beef up international institutions to beat the global recession.

He will tell faith and charity leaders: “In our families we raise our children to work hard and to do their best and do their bit. We don’t reward them for taking risks that would put them or others in danger, and we don’t encourage them to seek short-term gratification at the expense of long-term value.

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“Most people who have worked hard to build up their firm or shop don’t understand why any company would give rewards for failure; or how some people have grown fabulously wealthy making failed bets with other people’s money. Most people want a system where the market is free. But it must never be values-free. It must be fair but not laissez-faire. Our task is to agree global economic rules that reflect the enduring values that we cherish elsewhere.”

Mr Brown will use the G20 meeting in London on Thursday to announce that ten tax havens have signed up to a deal to share information with other nations about those suspected of avoiding tax. The countries are Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Austria, Andorra, Belgium, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau.

Mr Brown urged world leaders gathering for the summit to “rise to the challenge” of creating a new financial strategy. The French President’s intervention, however, threatened to sour the atmosphere. Yesterday it emerged that Mr Sarkozy, who blames the “Anglo-Saxons” for the economic crisis, also told his ministers that along with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, he would leave Mr Brown’s summit “if it does not work out”. Mr Sarkozy held a difficult half-hour telephone conversation with President Obama last week, expressing displeasure at Washington’s reluctance to accept new broad regulations and “the obvious bad faith” of the US team preparing for the summit. “It’s awkward, Barack,” Mr Sarkozy was quoted as saying. “Your negotiators are not saying the same thing as you.”

Yesterday Mr Brown, after talks with Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, and President Calderón of Mexico, acknowledged that tough negotiations remained and promised to do everything he could to facilitate an agreement. He called for proper resourcing of the international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF to enable them to help to return emerging market economies to stronger growth.

This was the first test faced by the G20 on Thursday, he said, along with cleaning up the banking system; doing “whatever is necessary” to bring about the resumption of growth; resisting protectionism and boosting trade; and delivering a low-carbon and sustainable recovery for the future.

These were five tests that “the world must pass”, he said. “We no doubt have some long days of negotiation ahead. These are complex problems.”

In the next 48 hours there will be huge disruption across London, caused both by demonstrators and the arrival of 40 diplomatic delegations requiring police protection. There will be widespread road closures to allow delegates’ convoys to pass between their residences, the summit venue at the ExCeL centre in Canning Town, East London, and official receptions at No 10 and Buckingham Palace.

About 2,500 police – many in riot gear – will be on duty to ensure the security of the leaders and to deal with what the Metropolitan Police expects to be an unprecedented level of activity among protest groups.

Five people were being held under antiterrorism laws last night after police found imitation guns and crude explosives that they suspect were to be used during this week’s G20 protests. The three men and two women were arrested in Plymouth and the explosive material, constructed from fireworks, is undergoing scientific tests.

Pressure groups yesterday accused police of talking up the prospect of violence in an attempt to stifle lawful demonstration. Commander Simon O’Brien, one of the officers in charge of the huge public order operation, said last week that police were up to the challenge and “up for it”.

Officers from six forces are involved in the security operation and tomorrow is likely to be the most testing day, with demonstrations across London.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, the human rights group, said that she was disappointed to hear some of the language being used by police. “If you think that troublemakers are spoiling for a fight, the last thing to do is encourage them.”

Mel Evans, of Climate Camp, which is hoping to attract 2,000 protesters to sleep in the City of London overnight, said: “The language they are using – that they are ready and up for it – is a downright scare tactic. We are about bunting, theatre and workshops. We don’t want to fight anybody.”

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