Union leaders and left-wing politicians called on Wednesday for a radical change in how Britain tackles the financial crisis, urging sweeping nationalisation, protection of jobs and help for home owners.

Eleven trade union leaders, some members of parliament and campaigners backed the launch of "The People's Charter", organisers said.

Supporters are seeking to gather a million signatures to show the Labour government that many people are unhappy with the way it has responded to the global crisis and a recession which has led to thousands losing their jobs or homes.

"This is not just an economic crisis. It is a major political crisis," veteran left-wing politician Tony Benn said at the launch of the charter.

"If anyone doubts that, look what happened in the 1930s. When six million were unemployed in Germany, it led to Hitler."

The charter calls on Britain to nationalise leading banks and insurance companies and to re-nationalise energy, transport, water and telecommunications companies that have been privatised since the 1980s.

The proposals, which would reverse three decades of political orthodoxy in Britain, are unlikely to gain headway with either the Labour government or the Conservative opposition.

The charter calls for tight regulation of financial markets to stop speculation and takeovers "against the public interest".

It would ban hedge funds and calls for an overhaul of the tax system so that big business and the wealthy pay more and ordinary people pay less.

It calls for protection of existing jobs, a halt to the seizure of the homes of people who fall behind on mortgage payments and free heating and transport for the elderly.

Troops deployed overseas, such as those fighting in Afghanistan, should be brought home, it says.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government has been forced to nationalise, or take large stakes in, several banks that have been savaged by the financial crisis.

But many voters criticise him for "bailing out" the banks while not doing enough to help workers and businesses squeezed by the shortage of credit and the impact of recession.

Brown must call an election by June next year but the Labour Party lags far behind the Conservatives in the polls.

Mark Serwotka, leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union, many of whose 300,000 members work in the public sector, said the charter was "absolutely necessary".

Many people believed that the positions of Britain's political parties were moving closer together, he said.

"People I think need an alternative," he said.

Reuters