Gordon Brown will speak to Angela Merkel later today as the Government struggles to pin down precisely how she is planning to guarantee German savers.

After the German Chancellor appeared to bury any semblance of a unified European approach to the issue yesterday, Treasury officials have been in frantic contact with their Berlin counterparts to find out what is going on.

On Saturday she had said there should be no unilateral action.

This morning Mr Brown's spokesman said that the Germans were not planning legislation. "Our understanding is that the German government will not be brining forward legislation for a legally binding guarantee of banking deposits."

Trying not to criticise the German government, he added that events were fast-moving and leaders had to make announcements in response to situations in their own country.

But there appeared to be irritation that the Conservative leadership had spoken last night about recapitalisation of the banking system, which some believe may have led to this morning's sharp falls in banking shares.

The spokesman said: "The Government is not going to speculate on policy options."

He would go no further, but there is certain to be a row if the Opposition is seen to have breached any confidential conversations with ministers, which they agreed to enter into last week.

During a busy morning Mr Brown also found time to speak to other players in the evolving drama, as well as chairing the first meeting of his new National Economic Council.

Already today he has spoken to the prime ministers of Iceland and Denmark, the managing director of the IMF and the head of the European Central Bank.

His spokesman was persistently questioned over whether the Germans had let Europe down. He replied: "We are examining the details of the German position. They will provide further details in the period ahead."

Alistair Darling will tell the Commons about latest developments this afternoon and Mr Brown will address the Parliamentary Labour Party tonight.

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