PRIME minister Gordon Brown bounced into Ipswich today to see how the area is fighting the recession.

PRIME minister Gordon Brown bounced into Ipswich today to see how the area is fighting the recession.

His sweep into Suffolk came after he learned about The Evening Star's Fightback campaign - and he was due to tell people from the region about how the government was hoping to help them.

He was starting his visit at BT's research laboratories at Adastral Park before moving on to University Campus Suffolk (UCS) on the Ipswich waterfront for the East Anglian launch of the government's Real Help Now scheme.

This is Mr Brown's first visit to the region since he spent his summer holiday on the Suffolk/Norfolk border near Southwold last August.

His visit came the day after he spoke movingly for the nation in the House of Commons after learning about the tragic death of David Cameron's disabled son, Ivan.

Drawing on his own tragic memories of losing his ten-day-old daughter in 2002, Mr Brown said the loss of a child was an ordeal no parent should be expected to have to endure.

During his visit today, Mr Brown was also learning about The Evening Star's Fightback campaign - he was due to meet editor Nigel Pickover after giving it his endorsement.

He was expected to use the Ipswich waterfront, with its mixture of private and public-sector investment - the new UCS buildings sit next to major developments at Regatta Quay and The Mill - as an example of how, despite the recession, the country is moving ahead.

But he was also being given a message by civic leaders that the government must help business - especially by forcing the banks in which it now has a large stake to start lending money again to business.

Mr Brown was also expected to be challenged on the news that RBS - which reported record losses today - was paying its former boss a pension of �650,000 a year.

His visit today came as Mr Brown was rapped by the House of Commons watchdog for sub-letting taxpayer-funded office space to Labour Party colleagues.

The Prime Minister “inadvertantly” broke the rules by allowing is office in his constituency to used by the Labour Party, but will suffer no punishment because neither he nor the party gained any financial advantage from the arrangement.