Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and William Bain

Tuesday 18th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

Lancashire is absolutely fundamental to the northern powerhouse. For our country to prosper at its optimal level, every part of it needs to be firing on all cylinders, and that certainly includes Lancashire. My hon. Friend has made a powerful case for the Brierfield mill development. I look forward to having the chance to see it in person before long. I encourage him and all Members of the House to engage with their local enterprise partnerships. In my view, Members of Parliament have a pretty good idea of what the most important economic priorities are, so they should feed those priorities into the LEPs.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

3. What his priorities are for political and constitutional reform in the remainder of this Parliament.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and William Bain

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I understand that the Co-op has lent more than £3 million to the Labour party. I would assess that as not being a particularly good credit risk; the Labour party has a toxic credit rating, and the experience has been that when it starts to borrow, it never pays the money back.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

The youth employment rate is lower now than in 2009, with a shortfall of nearly 400,000 jobs, so why are the Government continuing to resist a tax on bank bonuses that would help put young people back into work?

Cyprus

Debate between Greg Clark and William Bain

Monday 18th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I know that many of my hon. Friend’s constituents will be in that situation and will have bank accounts in Cyprus. We have made a commitment, but these are very early days—we learned only over the weekend that these matters are being discussed. I think it is appropriate for the Government to make an immediate commitment of reassurance to those members of the armed forces. They have no choice about being sent to Cyprus, and when they go on this country’s business it seems to me to be reasonable to make that commitment.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

Does the Financial Secretary have a view on how it looks to the world that ordinary savers are losing proportionately more of their deposits than institutional investors are? Is there not a strong case for the eurozone to get on and complete arrangements to create a single resolution mechanism so that banks can be resolved in an orderly way?

[Greg Clark]

Yes.

Financial Services

Debate between Greg Clark and William Bain

Wednesday 6th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. The commission led by my hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr Tyrie) is looking at how such professionalism, which can be found in financial services, can be bolstered and further recognised.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

The public, who after all own more than four fifths of that bank, will be appalled at the duration and extent of the greed and corruption that has been exposed by the FSA today. Does the Financial Secretary agree that that strengthens the argument made by the Financial Services Consumer Panel that the banks ought to be subject to a fiduciary duty to their customers, as lawyers and company directors are, so that savers and investors have maximum protection?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point that will be considered by the commission, which is looking into the culture. It is important that banks recognise that they exist to serve their customers—that is their purpose and the reason why they operate. My recent experience of speaking to some bank boards leads me to believe that they recognise the commercial imperative for that, but he makes a suggestion that I am sure our colleagues will consider.

Banking Reform

Debate between Greg Clark and William Bain

Monday 4th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I thank my hon. Friend for the effort that she has devoted to promoting this agenda. It seems to me that if there is to be genuine competition, people should have a choice of banks, and it should be easy, not difficult, for them to make changes. I hope that the work that my hon. Friend is doing will be reflected in the policies that we are enshrining in the Bill, and I look forward to detailed discussions with her about how that may be possible.

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

If the public are to have confidence in the new system, they need to know that lawyers or bankers will not be able to circumvent the ring-fencing regime. Can the Minister come up with a better justification for the Government’s not taking a full reserve power for full separation, in order to protect the public, than those that he has produced so far?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman is right: we need to protect the ring fence from the ingenuity of the lawyers who are sometimes in the vicinity. The history of financial regulation shows that banks have been able to discover ways of circumventing the rules, which is why we have given the regulator robust powers to insist on the full separation into retail and investment of any bank that makes any attempt to breach those rules.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and William Bain

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr William Bain (Glasgow North East) (Lab)]

21. What recent assessment he has made of the effect on economic growth of the level of bank lending to businesses.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Greg Clark)]

As I said to the hon. Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson), the Government and the Bank of England are taking action to improve the flow of credit to business. The £80 billion funding for lending scheme is designed to incentivise banks to maintain and boost their lending to businesses and households.

[Mr Bain]

According to the Bank of England, net lending by the banks to small and medium-sized businesses fell by a further £2.4 billion in the three months to this August. Does not the Government’s failure to address that decline show exactly why the IMF downgraded GDP estimates for Britain by 0.6% for this year, and a further 0.3% for next year?

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Gentleman calls for action, but I would have thought that the funding for lending scheme was precisely the type of action that he wanted. The Bank of England has been clear that, in the absence of funding for lending, it was quite possible that rates and lending would have declined because of the turbulence and anxiety in the eurozone. Actually, it has been an important factor in getting money to businesses. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will welcome that.