Tag Archive for Bank of England

NEW BANK OF ENGLAND BOSS CALLS UK “CRISIS ECONOMY”

April 19, 2013 Stewart Hosie MP No comments

Stewart Hosie MP
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George Osborne has suffered another embarrassing blow this week as the Bank of England’s next governor- who has been appointed by the Chancellor- has downplayed hopes of a boost to growth and warned that he would be moving to a “crisis” economy when he takes his position in the UK later this year.

Mark Carney, the successor to Mervyn King said there were three classes of countries in the global economy; crisis economies, those emerging from crisis, and those growing strongly.

The comments follow calls from the International Monetary Fund earlier this week for George Osborne to reconsider the UK government’s austerity agenda. The IMF has slashed its forecasts for UK growth –more than any other major economy.

Commenting, SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP said:

“Mark Carney’s comments are a hammer blow to the Chancellor.

“We know with every day that passes that George Osborne and Danny Alexander’s plans are completely backfiring. The UK’s stagnant performance also shows a fall in industrial output of 2.1% in the last quarter of last year.

“The Chancellor’s remaining credibility went with the loss of triple A credit rating, a timid and unimaginative budget and a failed economic policy that has produced nothing but austerity and misery for many.

“The Scottish Government is using the levers available to it to produce better outcomes – with lower unemployment including youth unemployment than the rest of the UK – and a focus on capital investment. The economic failure of the Westminster system shows why the economic levers should be in the hands of Scotland with independence – not George Osborne and Westminster.”

Committee Criticises Brown’s Bank Regulation Regime

June 2, 2009 Stewart Hosie MP No comments

Evidence stacking up against Culpability Brown

Gordon Brown faces damaging new criticism of the way banks were supervised by the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Services Authority (FSA) following the publication today (Tuesday) of a report by the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee.

SNP Treasury spokesperson, Stewart Hosie MP, said the report which said the so-called tripartite system had failed and must be reformed, added to the catalogue of failures by the prime minister in the lead up to the financial crisis, including:

- Brown ignored Treasury tripartite warnings in 2004.
- Admissions by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) Chairman, Lord Turner, that “the whole system was risky” and “they didn’t focus enough”
- The Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report 2007 which shows the UK Government and the Bank wilfully ignored warnings in the run up to the crisis
- Evidence from the FSA that Brown put political pressure on them not to question banks on risky practices
- The resignation of Sir James Crosby – one of the Prime Minister’s key advisors – followed revelations that when he was chief executive of bank HBOS he sacked a whistleblower who warned that banks were heading for disaster.

Commenting on the Lords report, Mr Hosie said:

“With every new report and revelation it is clear that the trail of responsibility for the banking crisis leads direct to Gordon Brown’s door. It is looking increasingly like the financial mess started in Downing Street, and not in America as the Prime Minister keeps protesting.

“The Lords report echoes criticism by the National Audit Office inquiry which found that the tripartite regulatory structure created by Gordon Brown was seriously flawed, and that Treasury officials decided it was not a priority to fix it.

“We have had allegations that Gordon Brown pressured City watchdogs into not questioning the banks’ risky practices and exerted political pressure, and now we have a Lords committee criticising the way banks were supervised.

“The evidence is stacking up against Culpability Brown.

“Until recently the main charge against Gordon Brown was his role as Chancellor in the decade when many of the cracks in the financial sector developed. But the evidence stacking up over recent weeks casts real doubt over his government’s responsibility for the financial crisis.

“With the European election on Thursday it is the SNP in Scotland who are working to protect Scotland’s jobs and communities from the impact of Brown’s economic failures.”

HOSIE COMMENTS ON FURTHER £50BN MONEY PRINTING PLAN

May 8, 2009 Stewart Hosie MP No comments

SNP Treasury spokesperson, Stewart Hosie MP, has commented on news that the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has said it planned to inject an additional £50bn through quantitative easing, raising the total to £125 billion, from £75 billion.

Mr Hosie said:

“The jury is still out on how effective quantitative easing will be in getting the economy back on track, and the MPC’s decision to print another £50bn suggests that the Treasury has underestimated how much needs to be done to stimulate the economy and bank lending.

“However, the fact remains that parliament has never had an opportunity to debate this formally. We have had no statement from the Treasury on committing another £50bn to this project – now running at an amount equivalent to 20 per cent of the UKs annual tax take.

“It is quite outrageous that Ministers have not allowed time for a proper debate.”

HOSIE EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER MONEY PRINTING PLANS

March 5, 2009 Uncategorized No comments

‘UK ECONOMIC SITATION IS CRITICAL’

Commenting on the announcement today (Thursday) of a further 0.5% cut in interest rates by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, SNP Treasury Spokesman Stewart Hosie MP said:

“The UK economic situation is now critical. Many of the UK Government’s support schemes are still in the planning stages and this latest interest rate cut confirms that banks are still not lending.

The MPC have also announced the Bank of England will proceed with quantitative easing. Commenting, Mr Hosie said:

“Similar measures undertaken in Japan in the early 1990s did not have the desired effect. Indeed, bank lending actually declined after the measure was enacted.

“While I would not challenge the MPC’s independence, I have grave concerns that Parliament was denied the opportunity to discuss this radical measure.”

‘CULPABILITY BROWN’ IN DENIAL ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY FOR DOWNTURN

March 2, 2009 Stewart Hosie MP No comments

SNP LIST EVIDENCE ON BROWN’S ROLE IN FINANCIAL CRISIS

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s speech today about the regulation of the financial industry SNP Treasury Spokesperson, Stewart Hosie MP said the Prime Minister was in denial about his own responsibility for overseeing the system of regulation that led to the crisis.

Mr Hosie listed the growing evidence which linked the Prime Minister to the lax system that led to the crisis which has revealed:

* Admissions by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) Chairman, Lord Turner, that “the whole system was risky” and “they didn’t focus enough”

* The Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report 2007 which shows the UK Government and the Bank wilfully ignored warnings in the run up to the crisis

* Evidence from the FSA that Brown put political pressure on them not to question banks on risky practices

* The resignation of Sir James Crosby – one of the Prime Minister’s key advisors – followed revelations that when he was chief executive of bank HBOS he sacked a whistleblower who warned that banks were heading for disaster

“That the Prime Minister knew about Icelandic banks months before the UK Government took any action – and which is now seen as being so heavy handed it precipitated an even more rapid collapse.

Commenting, Mr Hosie said:

“Gordon Brown is in total denial about his own culpability for this crisis. He is responsible for setting up the failed tripartite regulation system, he has borrowed beyond the UK’s means and he even appointed advisors like Sir James Crosby and Fred Goodwin.

“His words ring hollow if he wants people punished. What punishment does he think he deserves?

“Under Mr Brown’s watch the FSA, the Bank of England and the London Treasury disregarded the fatal flaws in the banking system.

“However much he spins the fact remains that the buck stopped with Gordon Brown and he is as culpable for the crisis we find ourselves in as anyone else. The evidence is overwhelming and no amount of denial can hide that.

“This whole fiasco is typified by a failure to respond responsibly to risk. The blame lies squarely at the door of 10 Downing Street – and with Culpability Brown.”

SNP EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN OVER QUANTITATIVE EASING

February 19, 2009 Stewart Hosie MP No comments

SNP Treasury Spokesperson, Stewart Hosie MP, has expressed deep concern over the Bank of England’s unanimous decision to approve quantitative easing.

Mr Hosie pointed to the experience in Japan where the government implemented the same policy and, instead of improving the availability of credit, actually made the economy worse. Research published by both bankers and academics suggests that overall levels of bank lending decreased during the period in which the policy was in operation.

Commenting, Mr Hosie said:

“Recent examples of printing money show that this is an incredibly risky approach and I hope the MPC considered all the evidence.

“The experience from Japan does not appear to support the claim that printing money will result in more lending as the MPC appears to believe, indeed lending may actually decline.”

CULPABILITY BROWN’S TRIPARTITE SYSTEM IN MELTDOWN

February 17, 2009 Stewart Hosie MP No comments
BANK OF ENGLAND CHOSE TO GLOSS OVER RISK

BANK OF ENGLAND CHOSE TO GLOSS OVER RISK

SNP Treasury Spokesperson, Stewart Hosie MP said the was “no escape” for Gordon Brown as yet more evidence piled up to suggest he is responsible for the current crisis in the banking sector.

Following admissions by Financial Services Authority (FSA) Chairman, Lord Turner, that “the whole system was risky” and “they didn’t focus enough”, Stewart Hosie has pointed to the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report 2007 which shows the UK Government and the Bank also wilfully ignored warnings in the run up to the crisis which led to the current recession.

Commenting, Mr Hosie said:

“It wasn’t only the FSA who disregarded the fatal flaws in the banking system, the Bank of England and the London Treasury wilfully ignored their own assessments, too.

“These organisations constitute the tripartite system set up by Gordon Brown. So once again, as the failure of this regime is coming to light, there is no escape for the Prime Minister.

“The Bank of England’s 2007 Financial Stability Report, the last one before the run on Northern Rock and the full blown banking crisis, acknowledged both weaknesses and vulnerabilities including weakened credit risk assessment, impaired risk monitoring, and impaired market liquidity. But it glossed over the dangers when it said, ‘the UK financial system remains highly resilient’ and that ‘financial innovation and the growing use of credit risk transfer markets have increased the risk-bearing capacity of the system’.

“So while the Bank of England stated that its focus was on ‘assessing threats to the financial system as a whole’- something it patently failed to do – Lord Turner has conceded that the FSA failed to spot the ‘large systemic risk’ in the banking system.”

Mr Hosie’s comments came amid reports revealing the UK Government’s action plan to bail out the economy is in chaos with the CBI predicting the UK Government will have to borrow more than an additional £100bn to help the UK economy through the recession.

Mr Hosie added:

“This whole fiasco is typified by a failure to respond responsibly to risk. The blame lies squarely at the door of 10 Downing Street – and with Culpability Brown.”

HOSIE ON INTEREST RATE CUTS

November 7, 2008 Stewart Hosie MP No comments

“IT IS NOW UP TO THE GOVERNMENT TO ENSURE FAIR PLAY”

Commenting on the announcement of a 1.5% cut in interest rates by the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, SNP Treasury Spokesman Stewart Hosie MP said:

“It has been clear for quite some time that recession and not inflation is the threat we face so a cut is welcome.

“Banks must pass these rate cuts on to borrowers and mortgage holders. It is now up to the UK Government to ensure that – after massive recapitalisation, guarantees on inter-bank lending and a cut in the base rate of interest – banks play fair and start lending again to individuals and small businesses at reasonable rates.”

 

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