Commenting on the Commons public accounts committee’s report on the support given to the UK banking industry, South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon, a member of the committee, said:
“The Treasury put up a staggering £850 billion of taxpayers’ money to prevent the UK’s banks from collapsing.
“However, banks’ commitments to increase lending to businesses are not being met and it’s far from clear that the Treasury knows why. It does not bode well that the department of state responsible for the nation’s finances appears to be in the dark about the current condition of the lending market. This must change.
“The Treasury is confident that it can make a profit when it sells off the taxpayers’ interest in the banks. This will require sound judgement and careful risk management over a number of years but the Treasury was heavily reliant on external advice during the credit crunch, and risk management has not always been one of Whitehall’s strongest suits.
“The Treasury must be certain that lessons from past asset sales have been acted upon and also examine whether its own expertise and capacity is up to the job.
“The National Audit Office (NAO) is unable to scrutinise directly the actions of the Bank of England, and the Financial Services Authority has only very recently accepted the NAO as its auditor.
“It is only right that the NAO be allowed to scrutinise these bodies, especially when taxpayers put up hundreds of billions of pounds to keep the UK banking system alive and kicking”.
9 February 2010
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