THE OBSERVER – EDITORIAL: He proposes that they should be kept on a short leash. It's a start, and will cheer Labour conference delegates
When Ed Miliband tells Labour conference delegates that he plans to break up Britain's banks should they backslide on tough new regulations, he is going further than the usual banker-bashing. When he attacks the government, which he argues has capitulated to intense lobbying and let the banks off the regulatory hook, it is not from the easy hit school of political point-scoring.
His strategy is broader and goes back to his long-held belief that a buccaneering, devil-take-the-hindmost approach to business is out of place in the 21st century. More than that, it is counterproductive and harmful to an economy that needs to shift away from a reliance on the money made by banks and their chief asset – the inflated loans made on seemingly irresistible property speculation.
Miliband may seem an awkward, even alien performer to some , but he will strengthen his appeal if he can stitch together policies that resonate with an audience that has spent the last four years watching incredulously as the City and the wealthy successfully defend their corner. Responsible capitalism sounds dull and un-British, but it also presents an opportunity for a little reinvention and a greater degree of fairness. It also has the potential to enthuse disenchanted Liberal Democrats as much as it does delegates desperate for some policy meat from the podium.
At the moment, we are going backwards, with income inequality getting worse and austerity leaving the wealthy unscathed. The crimes of the banks are many and well documented. They stretch from the branches and call centres that mis-sold payment protection insurance to the trading rooms that fiddled industry-wide interest rates and the boardrooms, where characters such as Barclays' boss Bob Diamond sanctioned aggressive tax-avoidance schemes. Not to mention the drug-running and money-laundering schemes that went on under the noses of HSBC and Standard Chartered and for which they have paid multibillion pound fines. Yet their lobbying power remains undiminished. » | Editorial | Saturday, September 29, 2012
