Parliamentary Search

Opposition day on Tuesday, 7 February 2012, in the House of Commons, led by Chuka Umunna. The answering member was Mark Hoban.

Banking (Responsibility and Reform)

Unallotted opposition day debate (half day). Closure motion. Agreed to on question. Main question negatived on division (244 to 295).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
540 c183-232 
Session
2010-12
Department
Treasury
Procedure
Closure motions
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Michael Meacher | 540 c209 (Link to this contribution) I wholly agree with the hon. Gentleman. The mega-bonuses go along with small businesses having to pa...
Michael Meacher | 540 c208-9 (Link to this contribution) No one can seriously doubt that Britain urgently needs fundamental banking reform, but what has been...
Show all contributions (167)
Stephen Williams | 540 c206-8 (Link to this contribution) No, because I have given way twice and I have a time limit, and the hon. Gentleman took rather a lon...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c206 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Stephen Williams | 540 c205-6 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an interesting philosophical point about the whole culture that we have perhaps...
Marcus Jones | 540 c216 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to my hon. Friend in a moment.
Rachel Reeves | 540 c216 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way to me, then?
Marcus Jones | 540 c216 (Link to this contribution) The Opposition's position is interesting, as we are now trying to encourage our banking sector to le...
Richard Fuller | 540 c219 (Link to this contribution) It has been interesting to sit in this debate and hear such an extended series of mea culpas from Op...
Jake Berry | 540 c216 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important and powerful argument. On the specific point of the Opposition's p...
Speaker | 540 c216 (Link to this contribution) Order. The intervention is far too long. The hon. Gentleman has just come in; I am not sure whether ...
Speaker | 540 c217 (Link to this contribution) I am reducing the time limit to six minutes, to try to get everybody in.
Marcus Jones | 540 c214 (Link to this contribution) I welcome the debate and want to discuss a number of issues that arise from the motion, but, having ...
Mary MacLeod | 540 c214-5 (Link to this contribution) Although the reform of banking is important, does my hon. Friend agree that we have not heard today ...
Michael McCann | 540 c214 (Link to this contribution) I think I have been generous enough in giving way, and other Members want to speak. On bankers' bon...
Marcus Jones | 540 c215-6 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. We need to be careful that we do not vilify people who we entrust with such pos...
Marcus Jones | 540 c215 (Link to this contribution) I will not, because other Members want to speak. I think the motion would, in such circumstances, ha...
Marcus Jones | 540 c215 (Link to this contribution) I concur absolutely with my hon. Friend's comments. Had it not been for the fact that Stephen Hester...
Rachel Reeves | 540 c215 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Marcus Jones | 540 c215 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very important point and I hope that some of my comments later will enthuse h...
Margot James | 540 c215 (Link to this contribution) Despite the fact that the opening speech from the Opposition spokesman was coached in such reasonabl...
Margot James | 540 c209-10 (Link to this contribution) In fact, RBS has a reasonably good record of lending to small and medium-sized enterprises. It just ...
Speaker | 540 c210 (Link to this contribution) Order. I say gently to the hon. Lady that interventions must be brief. There is substantial pressure...
Michael Meacher | 540 c210 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has obviously received a detailed RBS briefing. However, what she describes is very di...
James Morris | 540 c210-2 (Link to this contribution) Before I was elected to this House, I spent a 15-year career in small business in IT and software, d...
Michael McCann | 540 c212-3 (Link to this contribution) I rise to support the motion. I will begin with the obvious point, which my hon. Friend the Member f...
David Mowat | 540 c213 (Link to this contribution) I am a little bit puzzled by the hon. Gentleman's argument and that of the Labour Front Benchers on ...
David Mowat | 540 c214 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman seems to make a distinction between entities that are state-owned and those that ...
Michael McCann | 540 c214 (Link to this contribution) There must be responsibility across every business, whether it is private or public. I am not a comm...
Ben Gummer | 540 c214 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Baroness Winterton of Doncaster | 540 c232 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be n...
Mark Prisk | 540 c231-2 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way to the hon. Lady. We heard a diatribe of clichés from her, but we heard no p...
Mark Prisk | 540 c231 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way. The hon. Gentleman spoke for 45 minutes, which meant that Back Benchers did not...
Rachel Reeves | 540 c229-30 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I think that some Members do not want to hear the truth. Transpare...
Speaker | 540 c229 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady, but Members are holding conversations in the Chamber, ...
Mark Prisk | 540 c230-1 (Link to this contribution) We have heard 11 interesting contributions from Back Benchers, although I cannot say that the last c...
Rachel Reeves | 540 c226-8 (Link to this contribution) I am disappointed that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has not been willing to explain the Gover...
Speaker | 540 c226 (Link to this contribution) Order. The Education Secretary has been here for some time, actually, and he has been heckling, even...
Rachel Reeves | 540 c228-9 (Link to this contribution) We have argued a five-point plan for jobs and growth—to put money in the pockets of ordinary familie...
Richard Graham | 540 c228 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Lady explain the Opposition's policy on creating growth in the financial sector? We ha...
Rachel Reeves | 540 c226 (Link to this contribution) It is right and proper that we have had this debate in the House this afternoon. Today, we have show...
Sheila Gilmore | 540 c226 (Link to this contribution) They did not go, and the banks did not collapse. They recruited chief executives and board members. ...
Sheila Gilmore | 540 c226 (Link to this contribution) There are some basic questions of fairness that people in Britain feel strongly about, and we have t...
Nicholas Dakin | 540 c225-6 (Link to this contribution) I had not intended to speak in the debate, but Lloyds TSB has today announced 300 job losses in Scun...
Margot James | 540 c224-5 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent intervention. Indeed, I attended a Virgin-sponsored event ...
Steve Brine | 540 c224 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to my hon. Friend's speech. Further to her discussion with the shadow Busin...
Margot James | 540 c223 (Link to this contribution) In opening the debate, the shadow Business Secretary stressed the importance of a strong financial s...
Margot James | 540 c224 (Link to this contribution) I will give way one more time and then I must make progress.
Margot James | 540 c223-4 (Link to this contribution) First, on the causes of why businesses are not seeking loans to invest, that has much more to do wit...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c223 (Link to this contribution) First, I accept that the reason there is not as much lending to SMEs as one would expect is not just...
Rachel Reeves | 540 c220 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Richard Fuller | 540 c220-1 (Link to this contribution) That is a very good point. Perhaps the hon. Lady will be interested to know that I am leading the es...
Rachel Reeves | 540 c220 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is much more generous than his colleague the hon. Member for Nuneaton (Mr Jones)....
Yasmin Qureshi | 540 c221-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller) said that we must reward the risk takers, but is not th...
Chris Williamson | 540 c219 (Link to this contribution) I am not repenting, but the hon. Gentleman might like to repent for the fact that the real origins o...
Richard Fuller | 540 c219-20 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) for what will appear in print as a helpfu...
Speaker | 540 c219 (Link to this contribution) Order. Shorter interventions, as I have already expressed, are the order of the evening.
Speaker | 540 c193-4 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the Minister, let me say that we are going to introduce a time limit of eight m...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c193 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that many of those executives are watching the debate, and that they will pay attention to...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c192-3 (Link to this contribution) That is not actually what we are arguing for. We have said, given that the Government have been lect...
Mark Hoban | 540 c194 (Link to this contribution) The reason we have to have the austerity programme in place is to tackle the mess left by the Labour...
Mark Hoban | 540 c194 (Link to this contribution) May I thank the hon. Member for Streatham (Mr Umunna) for his remarks about my right hon. Friend the...
Sheila Gilmore | 540 c194 (Link to this contribution) Given that the Minister feels that the industry is more stable, is he concerned to hear the chief ex...
Margot James | 540 c195 (Link to this contribution) The issue of lending to small and medium-sized businesses is much more complex than the hon. Member ...
Mark Hoban | 540 c195 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. My hon. Friend has made an important point which should be noted by the Opposition. Net lend...
Mark Hoban | 540 c195 (Link to this contribution) I have already been generous in giving way, and I will be generous again in a minute. We will imple...
Mark Hoban | 540 c195 (Link to this contribution) I have clearly provoked the hon. Gentleman, so I shall give way.
Chuka Umunna | 540 c195 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I have to say that many of the organisations that repr...
Mark Hoban | 540 c195 (Link to this contribution) I had hoped that the hon. Gentleman would come up with some ideas, yet he took a rather lengthy inte...
Mark Hoban | 540 c195-6 (Link to this contribution) Will hon. Members calm down for a minute, and allow me to deal with the point about credit easing? ...
Speaker | 540 c190 (Link to this contribution) Order. We need shorter interventions.
Barry Sheerman | 540 c190 (Link to this contribution) I am certainly not against this sensible proposal to put employees on boards, but as I understand th...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c191 (Link to this contribution) I will move on, so that I can finish and others can get in. What else needs to happen? The banks ar...
Richard Fuller | 540 c190 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with great interest to the hon. Gentleman's extended exposition on the failings of th...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c190 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman asks a good question. Ultimately, of course, a director's duty is to shareholders...
Mark Lazarowicz | 540 c191 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is being generous in giving way. When bonuses are paid for performance, is it not als...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c191 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with the point my hon. Friend makes.
Chuka Umunna | 540 c191 (Link to this contribution) I will move on. Given that market mechanisms since the crash have not operated to rein in excessive...
David Ruffley | 540 c191 (Link to this contribution) I agree with some of the things that the hon. Gentleman has said, but the last Labour Chancellor sai...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c191 (Link to this contribution) I would say to the hon. Gentleman that they were not that good at getting out of it, because the ban...
Jack Dromey | 540 c192 (Link to this contribution) With house building down, homelessness up and nearly 2 million people on waiting lists for council h...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c192 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend, and that is why we are arguing for the reintroduction of the bank bonus...
David Mowat | 540 c192 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Chuka Umunna | 540 c192 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a little more progress. We need a more diverse and competitive banking system that i...
Mark Field | 540 c192 (Link to this contribution) We all appreciate that this banking crisis has gone on considerably longer than we envisaged. In 200...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c192 (Link to this contribution) No; partly because, whether we like it or not, the way in which the public regard RBS and Lloyds is ...
Mark Hoban | 540 c201 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend raises an important point. The reforms outlined by my right hon. Friend the Business ...
Mark Field | 540 c201 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is being admirably forward-looking in his speech by trying to present where we should g...
Mark Hoban | 540 c201 (Link to this contribution) Well, one thing is for certain—I was not designing the contracts that gave the big payouts. It is t...
Gordon Marsden | 540 c201 (Link to this contribution) What were you saying about it at the time?
Mark Hoban | 540 c201 (Link to this contribution) But the culture of bonuses did change under the previous Government. There was a tripling of bank bo...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c201 (Link to this contribution) Will the Minister at least concede that this issue and the kind of perverse incentive structures we ...
Mark Hoban | 540 c200 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman had been here a little earlier, he would have heard my reply to his hon. Frien...
Lord Sarwar | 540 c200 (Link to this contribution) Is the Minister aware of today's announcement by the Clydesdale bank about its restructuring program...
Mark Hoban | 540 c201-2 (Link to this contribution) We have been very clear as shareholders that we expect RBS to act as the back marker on bonuses. We ...
Speaker | 540 c202 (Link to this contribution) Order. The House will be aware of the level of interest, and therefore the imposition of an eight-mi...
Adam Holloway | 540 c203 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Adrian Bailey | 540 c203 (Link to this contribution) I agree. Lower-paid bank employees, of whom I was once one many years ago, have suffered collateral ...
Adrian Bailey | 540 c203-5 (Link to this contribution) No, I have given way twice, and there is a time limit on speeches. There is a disconnect between we...
Stephen Williams | 540 c203 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way and for remembering accurately that my right hon. Friend t...
Adrian Bailey | 540 c202 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, I support the motion. The manner in which my hon. Friend the Member for Streatham (Mr Umu...
Mark Lazarowicz | 540 c203 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that among those who have the right to be most angry at what happened are ...
Adrian Bailey | 540 c203 (Link to this contribution) I acknowledge that, shall we say, continued repetition on that theme earned the right hon. Gentleman...
Stephen Williams | 540 c205 (Link to this contribution) Here we are again in another Opposition-day debate centred on the economy, banks and bonuses. The ha...
Chris Williamson | 540 c205 (Link to this contribution) On the point about contrition, will the hon. Gentleman not also call on Government Front Benchers to...
Stephen Williams | 540 c205 (Link to this contribution) I am responsible for my party's statements and, indeed, my party's mistakes in certain instances but...
Adam Holloway | 540 c205 (Link to this contribution) I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman finds this attitude terrifying, but I do, and it is on both...
Mark Hoban | 540 c198 (Link to this contribution) Project Merlin set lending targets for banks. At the point of the third quarter, the targets for len...
Tom Blenkinsop | 540 c198 (Link to this contribution) Yesterday, Ernst and Young said UK bank lending will shrink for the first time since 2009. It has pr...
Mark Hoban | 540 c196 (Link to this contribution) I gave the hon. Gentleman the figures earlier. As I said, by the third quarter of last year banks ha...
George Mudie | 540 c196 (Link to this contribution) When the Governor of the Bank of England appeared before the Treasury Select Committee, he deplored ...
Mark Hoban | 540 c196 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman should tell the businesses in his constituency to use the appeals mechanism that ...
Derek Twigg | 540 c196 (Link to this contribution) An increasing number of subcontractors in my constituency, especially in the construction industry, ...
Mark Hoban | 540 c197 (Link to this contribution) The challenge is to ensure that banks are ready to lend and have the resources to do so. Project Mer...
Michael McCann | 540 c197 (Link to this contribution) While we think about how to address these problems and encourage alternative forms of finance in the...
Richard Fuller | 540 c196 (Link to this contribution) In referring to the ““non-bank”” ways in which credit easing could be used, my hon. Friend has ident...
Mark Field | 540 c198 (Link to this contribution) We have a very large holding in RBS and we clearly will not be divesting ourselves of much of that h...
Mark Hoban | 540 c199 (Link to this contribution) I was going to discuss the bank payroll tax a little later, but let the hon. Gentleman just ponder f...
Mark Hoban | 540 c198 (Link to this contribution) The national loan guarantee scheme will be open to all banks, including RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and HS...
Tom Harris | 540 c198-9 (Link to this contribution) The Minister points out that the so-called ““cash bonus system”” emerged under the previous Governme...
Mark Hoban | 540 c198 (Link to this contribution) Let me make some more progress. Through the disclosure regime, we have provided more transparency t...
Mark Hoban | 540 c199 (Link to this contribution) Clearly we had more power in opposition than we thought; we seem to be being blamed for the bonus cu...
Chris Williamson | 540 c199 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way, at about the 35th time of asking. Will he now accept t...
Mark Hoban | 540 c199 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, as I do not want him to feel missed out.
Gareth Thomas | 540 c199 (Link to this contribution) The Minister may be aware that the number of bank branch closures is beginning to rise again, as is ...
Mark Hoban | 540 c200 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman needs to reflect on what is happening in banking. I think his hon. Friend the hon...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c189-90 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. First, an employee understands what is going on in the business—perhaps...
Mark Lazarowicz | 540 c189 (Link to this contribution) Having a worker on the board is not just about accountability. Would it not also address the fact th...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c188-9 (Link to this contribution) Ultimately, the taxpayer had to put about £1.2 trillion into the system to support it. Juxtaposing t...
Julian Smith | 540 c188 (Link to this contribution) In order to create a balanced view, will the shadow business Minister confirm the tens of billions o...
Steve Barclay | 540 c188 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman explain why, under the regulatory structure introduced by his Government, ban...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c188 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes a good point. We should, of course, spare a thought for the employees who...
Anne McGuire | 540 c188 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend also accept that lower-paid staff in banks often took much of their bonuses in t...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c186-8 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the hon. Gentleman brought up that point, because I anticipated it. First, I think it...
Julian Smith | 540 c186 (Link to this contribution) Will the shadow Minister confirm that at that time he was an employment lawyer and was involved in s...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c185-6 (Link to this contribution) I presume that my hon. Friend is referring to the Joint Committee that considered the Financial Serv...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c186 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with my hon. Friend.
Jim Cunningham | 540 c186 (Link to this contribution) The Conservatives always tried to rewrite history when they were in opposition, but the truth is com...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c186 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend and I shall come to that precise point shortly.
Barry Sheerman | 540 c185 (Link to this contribution) As we are examining history—some Government Members do not like to hear accurate history—I point out...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c185 (Link to this contribution) We have said that, if we had known then what we know now, we would not have knighted Fred Goodwin. H...
Marcus Jones | 540 c185 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is telling the House about the record of the previous Prime Minister, the right h...
John Robertson | 540 c185 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree with me and some of my constituents who have been in touch that the one th...
Stephen Mosley | 540 c184 (Link to this contribution) The Financial Services Authority blamed political pressure for the failure of RBS. Is the hon. Gentl...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c185 (Link to this contribution) I do not believe that that is what the report on RBS said. I did concede earlier that the Opposition...
Keith Vaz | 540 c184 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will be aware that the current structures were set up following the closure of the Ba...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c184 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my right hon. Friend. I know that that is something for which he has campaigned for a l...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c183-4 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House notes with concern that the recent Bank of England publication, Trend...
Caroline Lucas | 540 c217-9 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this important debate, the ramifications of which stretch far beyond the banking sector in...
Marcus Jones | 540 c217 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention; I apologise that time is short. Lending to small busin...
David Hamilton | 540 c193 (Link to this contribution) Where would those chief executives go? In Europe, they would get a lot less, and in America some chi...
Mark Field | 540 c192 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman therefore working towards putting in place a policy that would be more onerous...
George Mudie | 540 c201 (Link to this contribution) The problem for the public is that the Minister can lecture private shareholders in private banks to...
Debbie Abrahams | 540 c186 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that we should not demonise one group in society, whether they be bankers ...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c185 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend and thank him for correcting my pronunciation of the constituency of my ...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c190 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution. The Walker review propos...
Mark Hoban | 540 c197 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very important point. For too long businesses have been dependent on banks fo...
Chuka Umunna | 540 c188 (Link to this contribution) On guaranteed bonuses, there is an element of contract in that, in terms of the arrangements between...
Jim Shannon | 540 c209 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman share my concern and that of many people inside and outside this House...
Michael McCann | 540 c213 (Link to this contribution) The crucial point that has come through in this debate is that RBS is owned by the public. Up until ...
Richard Fuller | 540 c220 (Link to this contribution) I would like to give way very much, because the hon. Lady did not get a chance to comment earlier.
Subjects
Bank services Banks Credit Incentives Pay Managers Loans Small businesses Regulation Reform Bank levy
Link
View this Parliamentary proceeding on www.publications.parliament.uk