Alex Cunningham
Main Page: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)Department Debates - View all Alex Cunningham's debates with the HM Treasury
Banking
Alex Cunningham Excerpts(13 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Osborne
As I have explained, bonuses are actually going to be lower this year than they were in the last year of the Labour Government, who had an opportunity to do something about them.
Yes, bonuses will increasingly be paid in shares, and for a very good reason—so that when the bank goes bust, people will not walk away with a huge payment. We remember not just Fred Goodwin’s knighthood but the pension that the Labour party awarded him. It was completely unable to deal with the fact that the bankers in the banks that went bust walked away with their money. One of the reasons for paying bonuses in shares, and why we have introduced the code, is so that the bankers, too, will pay a price if the bank in which they are involved fails.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
The education maintenance allowance costs £580 million a year, a fraction of the cash that the Chancellor could be raising from the banks. Why is he taking more money from young people’s EMA and other things affecting their lives than he is taking from the banks?