Oral Answers to Questions

Jane Ellison Excerpts

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

2. What progress he has made in reforming the tripartite system of financial regulation.

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

3. What progress he has made in reforming the tripartite system of financial regulation.

[David Tredinnick (Bosworth) (Con)]

10. What progress he has made in reforming the tripartite system of financial regulation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Osborne]

Of course I regret it, because we are all having to deal with the consequences. We still do not know—the legislation will come before the House of Commons—whether the Opposition support changing the system of regulation that was established by the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls) in 1997. I guess we will find out. The Government are clear—we must fix the system of regulation that went so badly wrong, and we believe that giving the Bank of England the lead responsibility on that will help.

[Jane Ellison]

As the Chancellor knows, the Leader of the Opposition has admitted that the previous Government got regulation wrong. One area that was wrong was inadequate customer protection in the consumer credit market. Given considerable recent interest in the subject in the House, can he update us on the creation of the consumer protection agency?

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend is right. It was an interesting admission from the Leader of the Opposition that things started to go badly wrong when he was an adviser at the Treasury. Maybe the man he did the photocopying for will make a similar admission. The creation of a consumer protection and markets agency will provide a stronger consumer voice and a consumer champion. It will be a world-class regulator. We are assembling the right team to run that agency, including many talented people who were at the Financial Services Authority. I am delighted that Martin Wheatley has been appointed as the chief executive designate. He has an outstanding record as a regulator around the world and his arrival bodes well for the future of the new agency.