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So the Telegraph reports: Ron Sandler should not be eligible for the job of chairman of Lloyds Banking Group because he is non-domiciled for tax purposes, the Liberal Democrats have declared. … “The chairman of a nationalised, or part-nationalised, bank should not be a non-dom,” Lord Oakeshott, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman said. “Ron Sandler should not become chairman of Lloyds.”  [ Read More ]

Lib Dem shadow chancellor Vince Cable has been delivering a speech on reform of banking regulation to the London Stock Exchange, outlining the ways in which the current regulatory model could be improved. Here’s the skinny: RBS and Lloyds to be broken up before they are returned to private ownership Highly paid bankers to publish details of their remuneration and  [ Read More ]

Y’know I’ve expressed my general contempt for the pantomime which passes for Prime Minister’s Questions on many occasions: it’s theatre, mirage, insubstantial: all performance, no content. But we discovered today there’s something worse than the usual rowdy PMQs: when there’s both no performance and no content. It’s hard to remember that William Hague once had a fearsome Commons reputation for  [ Read More ]

Here’s the spin bout today’s Government’s Banking Regulation White Paper Labour’s chancellor Alistair Darling was hoping the media would buy, as faithfully recorded by the BBC: UK banks will face tougher regulation and consumers will get more protection, under reforms to the financial system proposed by the chancellor. And here’s the spin-free reality from Lib Dem shadow chancellor, Vince Cable:  [ Read More ]

Here’s how The Guardian reports it: Liberal Democrat spokesman Lord Oakeshott used parliamentary privilege today to blow a hole in a gag order obtained by Barclays Bank over its tax avoidance scheme. The documents detailing the schemes, previously leaked to the Lib-Dems, were now available on Wikileaks and other websites, he told a Lords debate on tax avoidance. Barclays had  [ Read More ]

Cast your minds back three weeks, and there was much controversy about the financial rewards being received by bankers whose firms had been rescued from bankruptcy by taxpayers. Hmm, how times change. Anyway, it prompted Lib Dem Voice to ask our readers: What do you think should be done about bonuses in those banks recapitalised with taxpayers’ money? Here’s what  [ Read More ]

One thing you absolutely cannot accuse the Lib Dem leadership of – going soft on the pay bonuses for executives at those banks which have been re-capitalised by the government. Here’s Vince Cable, Lib Dem deputy leader: The Government must freeze all bonus payments for employees of semi-nationalised banks and ensure that the pay details of those earning over £100,000  [ Read More ]

Late last week, there was a small flurry of media interest in hedge fund Lansdowne Partners: A hedge fund run by two Tory donors made a £12million killing in days by exploiting the collapse of Barclays shares, it was revealed yesterday. Financiers Paul Ruddock and David Craigen have donated more than £300,000 to the party, most of it since David  [ Read More ]

After last week’s pretty subdued start to the new Parliamentary term at Prime Minister’s Questions, there was a return to the more boisterous rough ‘n’ tumble which passes for debate in this farcical weekly charade in the interests of holding the Government publicly to account. As is well-established, the actual content of PMQs is pretty irrelevant (which is just as  [ Read More ]

Over at The Times, Lib Dem deputy leader Vince Cable explains that the second bailout shows that the Labour Government has acted as imprudently as the banks themselves. You can read it in full here – and I recommend that you do – but here’s an excerpt in case you need any further tantalising: It is clear that the conditions  [ Read More ]