This Week in Westminster - December 19th -20th

The last sitting days of 2011 were dominated by financial news of one kind or another, namely banking reform and negotiations over public sector pensions. The final word is left to Peter Bone MP.

• Banking reform (19th December) – the Government published its response to the Banking Commission Report and put forward proposals on issues such as splitting the functions of banks and how best to prevent a repeat of the banking crises. There remain concerns that these reforms will not be implemented until 2019.

Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) (Lab): Given the interesting speech recently made by the Prime Minister on the importance of Christian values, is there not a danger that the Chancellor and the Treasury as a whole are spending too long talking to the money changers and not enough time talking to more important elements of the British economy, such as manufacturers and small businesses? Does he feel that when Jesus overthrew the money tables he should have waited six years before acting?

Mr Osborne: I would not say that what we are undertaking is of biblical proportions, but we are acting now to deal with those problems. We are changing the system of regulation, which will be in place once the draft financial services Bill is passed next year; we are changing the competition remit, which will be in place by 2013; and we are committed to introducing all that legislation, including the secondary legislation, in this Parliament.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111219/debtext/111219-0001.htm#1112195000001

Mr Denis MacShane (Rotherham) (Lab): Given that the Government are not spending and banks are not lending, is the Chancellor at all worried that he and Sir John Vickers are generals fighting the last war? Surely, rather than keeping a lot of money in vaults, we want it out there fructifying in the economy creating jobs and new businesses.
Mr Osborne: At times it feels like the current war as well. I do not think that the effects of the financial crisis have disappeared from our economy.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111219/debtext/111219-0002.htm

Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab): Is there not a possibility that if the banks are split up, there will be more top bankers than there are now? What we need in Britain is small business growth and large business growth. The chances are that the most reviled group of people in the land—the top bankers—are going to multiply.
Mr Osborne: I do not think that it automatically follows that if we ring-fence the banks, we double the number of bankers. It is our intention, yes, to have a successful financial services industry, which is very important in Derbyshire, Cheshire, where my constituency is, the west midlands and Scotland, as well as in the City of London.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111219/debtext/111219-0002.htm

• Public Service Pensions (December 20th) – some progress in negotiations has been reported, although that was thrown into jeopardy by a letter from Eric Pickles, being reported in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/20/public-sector-pensions-deal-threatened. Agreements have been reached, but not with all unions. Concerns remain including whether individuals will decide to opt out of pension schemes.

Dame Anne Begg (Aberdeen South) (Lab): Has the Chief Secretary made an estimate of the number of people who will opt out of their pension scheme because of the increased contributions, leaving them with no pension cover whatever?

Danny Alexander: For anyone who wishes to have a pension, these are among the best pensions available. It would be right for people to stay in their pensions or to join them, and I hope that no Member of the House will encourage anyone to opt out of their pension on the basis of this agreement.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111220/debtext/111220-0001.htm#11122052000003

• What would happen if...? (December 20th)

Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con): I wish the Deputy Prime Minister a merry Christmas, but if the Prime Minister was killed in a terrorist attack, who would take charge of the Government? Will the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that it would not be him, as he leads a party that has less support than the UK Independence party?

The Deputy Prime Minister: I receive his season’s greetings in the spirit in which they were intended. As he knows, appropriate arrangements would be made in that very unfortunate event. I must say, however, that his morbid fascination with the premature death of his own party leader is a subject not for me, but for the Chief Whip.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111220/debtext/111220-0001.htm#11122052000033