The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling announced today the second British bank rescue in three months, proposing insurance to underwrite mortgage-backed securities and toxic assets and reversing plans to  cut Northern Rock’s lending. The Treasury also announced it will increase its stake in Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, parent of Ulster Bank, as it converts the £5 billion of preferred shares it bought last year to ordinary stock, it said in a statement today. The government also said it will extend a Bank of England programme to inject money into the financial system.