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The Economy

At least I agree with the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) on his last remarks, about paying massive bonuses and pensions to people who have brought their banks down. He gave us the benefit of his wisdom—his speech was full of "I told you so’s"—and rightly drew attention to the background to the present crisis, but he needs to be a little careful not to skate on rather thin ice. The build-up of debt through credit and housing bubbles, the deregulation of financial markets, the removal of the capital adequacy ratios from the reserve requirements of the Bank of England, the development of private equity and hedge funds, the light-touch regulation in the City and the development of the bonus culture were all main characteristics of the uncontrollable boom of the Thatcher era. One needs a little more humility and a little less "I told you so."