It is unacceptable that this government continues to believe it can operate in secret. I don’t doubt that the loans to HBOS and RBS were necessary (apparently their cash machines were within minutes of closing down) and properly made by the Bank of England as the lender of last resort, but should the full extent of their problems have been hidden in the way they were?
I am a (very small) Lloyds shareholder and if I were an active investor I would be fuming that I did not know about the loans. The way that these loans were kept secret calls into question everything that we have been told so far about what really went on in 2008. As if it makes a difference, we’re assured that the loans were paid back in full within four months – what with? More of our money?
I have come to expect covert and convoluted activities from this government. Just this week, we’ve learnt more about the creeping extension of the DNA database; the fifth inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the Iraq invasion has just opened; there is a revolt brewing over how Ofsted carries out its work. There is a rotten core in how this government operates – it is high-handed and seems to think that it can govern by secret deals.
I want to see everything laid out in full if the Tories win the election next year, even if that means admitting such things as Conservatives’ apparent failure to ask any serious questions over Iraq, or that we need to entirely rework the banking system. It will be difficult, it will be seen as vindictive, and it will not make for pleasant reading. But it’s the only way that anyone will ever trust politicians again.
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