Osborne vows banking 'reset'
Chancellor George Osborne says 2013 will be the year when the banking system is"reset". He wants new powers to break up the banks if they do not follow rules to ring-fence risky operations.
Chancellor George Osborne says 2013 will be the year when the banking system is"reset". He wants new powers to break up the banks if they do not follow rules to ring-fence risky operations.
The Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said George Osborne's banking reforms, announced today, do not go far enough:
For all the rhetoric and the partial climbdown he has been forced into, George Osborne is still failing to deliver the radical banking reform we need.
He is refusing to legislate for a backstop power to allow for across the board separation of the banks, as Andrew Tyrie’s commission and Labour called for last year.
He has refused to repeat Labour’s tax on bank bonuses or implement our legislation on pay transparency. And he has failed to get the banks to lend to businesses with net lending to small firms falling month by month.
Archaeologists responsible for recent discoveries in the World Heritage Site say the proposals are a ‘sad and retrograde step’.
Senior union officials warn a combination of large scale operations and cuts are creating a “huge drain” on resources.
The EY ITEM Club predicts that GDP could be cut in half from 0.4% to as low as 0.2%.