London  - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday hailed the government's massive bank rescue plan as the "right decision in extraordinary times."

"It is a tough deal for everybody, but it is the right deal for the British public," Brown told a news conference in Downing Street.

The "comprehensive action" taken by the British government should restore "confidence and trust" to the financial system, he said.

Extraordinary times called for bold and far-reaching solutions, Brown said. "Our stability and restructuring programme is comprehensive; it is specific and it breaks new ground."

"This is not a time for conventional thinking or outdated dogma, but for the fresh and innovative intervention that gets to the heart of the problem."

Brown was keen to stress that the British plan, based on a cash injection into banks of 50 billion pounds (87 billion dollars) and lending guarantees given to banks at commercial rates, differed substantially from the US bail-out scheme agreed last week.

"This is not an American plan. We are not buying up bad assets, we are not just giving money," Brown said.

The British government had instead decided to invest in a stake in the banks by buying shares and was expecting to get a return on that, Brown said. (dpa)