LONDON (Bloomberg) — Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, targeting what he calls "greed and recklessness" in Britain's financial system, asked banks to curtail bonuses and said the rich will pay more in tax.

"It is right that those who earn the most should shoulder the biggest burden," the finance minister told the ruling Labour Party's annual conference yesterday in Brighton, England. "We will introduce legislation to end the reckless culture that puts short-term profits over long term success. It will mean an end to automatic bank bonuses year after year."

Darling said he has raised tax rates and eliminated relief for pension contributions for the rich. The Treasury is probing 100,000 offshore bank accounts and expects to recover at least £1 billion ($1.59 billion) from Liechtenstein alone.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government is attempting to shore up support among voters by attacking bankers and suggesting the rich will have to foot the bill for the sharpest recession since World War II.

"This is a government on the cusp of losing the next election, and if banker-bashing is going to be popular they'll do it," said Simon Maughan, a banking analyst at MF Global Securities in London. "This is a classic case of knee-jerk political reaction to a crisis." With the next election due by June, Labour's support is tied with the Liberal Democrats, the third-biggest party, 15 points behind the Conservative opposition, a ComRes Ltd. poll today shows. Brown yesterday rejected suggestions that he will step down before the vote and that he had health problems.

"This is the last chance for the Labour Party to go into an election with a new leader," said Ivor Gaber, professor of political campaigning at City University. "If Brown is seen to have a good conference, Labour members of Parliament may shrug their shoulders and let him continue. If he has a bad conference there is still time to elect a new leader."

Darling's speech also was aimed at reassuring bond investors that the Treasury is serious about curbing the deficit and voters that the cuts that come will protect health and education services. He aimed to draw distinctions with the Conservative opposition, which he said would slash spending indiscriminately. "Every step to limit the severity of this recession and the damage to families they opposed," Darling said. "At every stage, the Tories have misunderstood the causes of the crisis, underestimated its severity and opposed the measures to limit its impact."

The Treasury expects the deficit to surpass 12 percent of gross domestic product, the most in the G-20. That forecast prompted Standard & Poor's to threaten a downgrade for Britain's AAA credit rating.

"The public understand that difficult decisions will need to be made," Darling said. "Tighter spending doesn't mean a return to the Tory dark ages. It does mean a determination to cut waste, cut costs and cut lower priority budgets."

This week, Darling will speak to Richard Broadbent, chairman of Barclays Plc's remuneration committee, along with Colin Buchan of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Mark Moody- Stuart of HSBC Holdings Plc and Wolfgang Berndt of Lloyds Banking Group Plc. He will propose that they reduce bonus payments at the end of this ahead of a change in the law aimed at formalising curbs on pay.