LONDON - THE government will 'almost certainly' do more in the coming months to help the British economy recover from a downturn, finance minister Alistair Darling said in an interview published on Sunday.

His remarks came after he unveiled a 20-billion-pound (S$46.9 billion) economic stimulus plan on Monday in a bid to reignite consumer spending and fight back against looming recession.

'You'd be very foolish indeed to say, 'Well that's job done',' Chancellor of the Exchequer Darling told The Observer weekly newspaper.

'You know this is something that needs constant attention. We've got the budget next year, we've got the pre-budget in 12 months' time, the budget after that.

'I put more money into the reserve on Monday precisely because I know that we're almost certainly going to be doing additional things. The people expect you to do that.'

Official data released on Wednesday showed that Britain's economy shrank 0.5 per cent in the three months to September, the first quarterly contraction since 1992 and the largest drop since 1990.

Mr Darling also told the newspaper that ministers would announce new plans next week to force Britain's banks, several of which were bailed out by the government in October, to treat their customers fairly. -- AFP