Voters in Iceland are expected to have opted not to repay £3.5 billon lost in a bank collapse to Britain and the Netherlands, with the country's leader calling on Gordon Brown to settle the dispute.

Polls have suggested today's referendum, on whether or not taxpayer's will fund the repayments, could see up to three-quarters of Icelanders voting 'No'.. .

Grimsson said his country would accept a "fair deal" over the repayments and urged Gordon Brown to show "statesmanship" as he did on the global financial crisis, to avoid a second referendum, by putting forward a more "balanced agreement".

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What is important following this referendum and in the light of the outcome is that the leadership of Britain and the Netherlands, especially Gordon Brown, will now take the matter into his own hands, which he has not done. 06-Mar-10.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7052476.ece