Every UK citizen  has a  right to a bank account here. Mr Farage praised the UK government today for its words and actions  over cancellation of accounts. The Nat West CEO has apologised for her conduct and left the job. I have not been involved in this issue but post this so people can comment on the matter if they wish. As usual contributions making personal attacks  and unsubstantiated allegations will not be posted.
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July 26, 2023
Resigned = bonus intact probably full, pension intact (all those years since grad in early 90’s) 30y+ probably full entitlement, ~ÂŁ6m = 1y golden handcuffs in notice period with 39% courtesy of uk tax payer.
Whereas any cashier leaking information sacked on the spot for gross misconduct = nothing
It stinks…
July 26, 2023
Built up pension entitlements are safe, even if dismissed. Only if you are caught stealing will the bank seek to reimburse itself from your pension. Other than that, I totally agree with you.
July 26, 2023
Just imagine that she blabbed about the King’s bank account. She’d have been out on her ear in seconds.
But because it was Farage, the Board tried desperately to circle the wagons.
July 26, 2023
If it was one of her staff, she’d have sacked them on the spot
July 26, 2023
Indeed I too have seen some of major banks act appallingly. This especially following the 2008 bank crash when many businesses we brought down or half strangled for no or sensible valid reasons this did huge economic damage. This despite tax payers rescuing the banks and the borrowers have good records and sound security. Indeed often the more sound they were the more they were abused by these banks to claw money back from the businesses.
The government and regulators also really needs to look at the vastly increased rip off margins they charge between deposits at circa 1% and lending at 7%+ even up to 40% (in one size for all personal rip off overdrafts) at most major banks. It this is free & fair competition then I am a banana, as Ian Hislop might put it. As I mentions before the credit reference agencies also prevent customers shopping around for the best rates by restricting shopping around without damaging you credit ratings.
July 27, 2023
Absolutely right. One rule for them, another rule for us. Same goes for obstructing the Highway, inviting people to violence, emitting CO2, expressing an opinion etc.
July 27, 2023
That was a reply to Rhoddaz.
July 26, 2023
Resigned = bonus intact probably full, pension intact (all those years since grad in early 90’s) 30y+ probably full entitlement, 6m =1y golden handcuffs in notice period – 39% courtesy of uk tax payer.
Cashier leaking information sacked on the spot = nothing
July 26, 2023
This was a vile act to be vindictive to a leading person who sought and got Brexit. Pure spite. They knew by cancelling a bank account other banks would not allow an account to be opened. The authors of the report at Coutts, etc ed
People at the BBC needs to be investigated. It was reported in Con Woman yesterday how badly the BBC have treated Farage over the years. For example, on one show put 18 remainers against just him! There should be resignations and a clear out at the vile propaganda unit known as the BBC. Were we not promised changes many times by the current uni party govt? Why was the BBC happy to promote such a false story? Where was the due diligence? Have the BBC reported on others being cancelled by banks? Not to my knowledge.
July 26, 2023
More evidence if needed that he BBC has no method to validate political or immoral or unsubstantiated coverage or stories.
It really is about time it was broken up – a channel each for documentaries, dramas, soap-operas, news, sport (well a joke of coverage). Each needing an annual fee to evidence a public need and taste.
Think of all those political lefties thrown out to the wolves….
July 26, 2023
But everything is okay now at the BBC as theyâve rebranded their news channel as ââverified liveââ
July 27, 2023
Heard his interview with Nick Robinson on R4 Today, yesterday. Robinson was arrogant, condescending and bitter – and for once got put firmly in his place.
July 27, 2023
Tories have had 13 years to do something about the BBC. And we still have the licence fee. Useless in power, and will be useless opposition as there’s little difference between them and Labour.
July 27, 2023
Rhoddaz
Agreed just wait for the huge compensation pay off, for breaking not only banking rules, but probably some legislation on Data Protection as well.
Failure it would seem pays if you are in the right industry, or work for a Government funded organisation.
July 26, 2023
I am surprised that every U.K. citizen has a right to a bank account here. How is it that so many people have been âdebarkedâ? Have the banks committed a crime?
I ask because I know that in Germany, France every citizen has the right to a bank account. But I was told the reverse is true in the U.K.
July 26, 2023
I had a recent experience with a major bank
Paying a substantial cheque in from the sale of my mother’s house after we had been covering her care home fees.
The cheque was cancelled without explanation and when i checked my account a week later it wasn’t there.
I asked at the counter and got no answer
I asked to see the manager with a photo copy of the cheque and asked her to point out what the problem was. There was none.
I suggested we call the police and hey presto the money appeared in my account.
No apology, no explanation.
July 26, 2023
What a disgrace. Lucky you had a photocopy of the cheque!
What to do when there is no cashier or manager? Just an AI computer ready to take you in a loop getting nowhere until the end of time.
July 26, 2023
I had a 5 year bond with one of the big banks, they refused to pay up on maturity. Not only that they accused me of being rude when I asked for my money. I had to wait an extra month before they paid up.
One of the big insurance companies refuses to pay up, and are lying about events.
It’s like the wild west for customers.
July 26, 2023
Its only going to get worst with our government pushing a cashless society and digitisation
July 26, 2023
UK citizens used to be able to get a bank account of last resort from the post office. Those bank accounts were sold off as one of the privatisation waves, but nobody inherited the obligation to give an account to anyone.
July 26, 2023
Iain gill: “UK citizens used to be able to get a bank account of last resort from the post office.”
That would be National Girobank, set up by Tony Benn to make banking ‘accessible’ to the ordinary man and woman in the street.
Sold off by the Tories to Alliance and Leicester, which was then swallowed up ( in the interests of European integration, again promoted by the Tories ) by Santander.
That’s the bank that has recently closed 90% of it’s branches in this City. And the online customer service is so poor that once some of my investment bonds have matured, I’ll be moving my funds elsewhere and closing my accounts.
July 28, 2023
Sold off by Vince Cable, LibDum in the coalition!
July 30, 2023
There are still 11,500 branches of the Post Office offering bank accounts. So they still exist. But it is true they encourage their customers to use their website
(postoffice.co.uk). As before their debit/credit cards while still having the logo Post Office are handled by Mastercard.
July 26, 2023
So, no personal attacks? Who in your view Sir John leaked the information about Mr Farage? Was it the NatWest board? Who do we criticise? Are you suggesting it was a board decision?
Dodging again it seems?
Reply I am reminding people not to libel individuals. See the published correspondence if you want to know about the BBC story and subsequent apologies. This site does not like personal attacks, so please take those elsewhere.
July 26, 2023
@The Prangwizard – if it was the Board, and the Government is and was even more so at the time of the reported transgression the largest shareholder, the collective responsibility cant be easily dismissed. It happened fully while under the Governments watch, their regulation regime.
Either they are wrong complicit and/or the regulations they have in place are wrong.
July 26, 2023
There is moral and criminal degeneration almost everywhere in the upper levels of society, government and corporate business. Only one person has had the open courage to take them on and attack, at much personal risk, and he has been successful and I hope he gets further. He needs help but isn’t getting it from those who like the establishment.
Too many others dare not, claiming they are decent, fair and honest, but staying well out of the risk of trouble.
July 27, 2023
+1. Same goes in the USA and Europe, but more are speaking out. All wrongly smeared as “fascists” or described as “extreme right”, but they are mostly what used to be called “conservatives”.
July 26, 2023
The question is: Under what sort of regulatory regime, and under what sort of government, did the Natwest think they were operating so that they would get away with it?
July 26, 2023
Under the Blairte regime. The Blairite revolution is still in full swing. No succeeding government has been in office long enough to tackle it – even if they dared.
July 26, 2023
Because we still have a Blairite government; “Runaway Dave” Cameron is his heir and every Tory leader since, except Truss.
July 27, 2023
The regulators ICO, FCA, FOS should all have properly independent complaints procedure when the public want to complain about the regulators performance. Independent and external, staffed by people like police officers and judges. Currently they all have weak ineffective internal complaints departments, with a veneer of independence, which simply do not work.
July 26, 2023
This current Tory Government ….they set the framework, environment, leadership and policy of banking in the UK
July 26, 2023
Why has the govt, as the largest share holder, demanded the introduction of much higher standards after the banking scandal in 2008? It cost the taxpayer a fortune for greedy, corrupt bankers to act with impunity!
July 26, 2023
Breathtaking stupidity at the bank to thing that they could attack Farrage in this ways without these negative consequences for the banks. But in my experience senior bankers are often stupid indeed with investment and lending decissions. As with the mad RBS purchase of ABNAmro or the duff US bank mortgage scandals.
July 26, 2023
The US mortgage scandals were enforced by Clinton by legislation âequality of outcomeâ.
July 27, 2023
The big financial institutions are accustomed to getting away with far worse with the ordinary public, they just misunderstood the publicity Nigel could generate would be far worse than the regulators. I am surprised they honestly answered his subject access request, often organizations lie at that stage, and nobody does anything even when it’s easy to prove that has gone on.
July 26, 2023
EU Money laundering regulations were at the back of all this, it seems.
July 26, 2023
Nigel Farage is gaining even more traction pursuing truth. His exposure of wrongdoing protects those whom it harms. Those who attempt to conceal bad practice should beware.
July 26, 2023
You’re probably right, Martyn, but they were then exploited for globalist political purposes.
July 26, 2023
Still in force due to our government ‘not’ repealing EU laws
July 26, 2023
Probably the only situation that would stop the Bank closing your account at will, would be if you owed them a lot more money than they owed you.
As usual it is only when a high profile individual is wronged and goes Public, does any change happen, the unknown little people very often do not count !
I wonder if the rest of the Banks Directors will now resign given they backed the boss to stay, and so approved her actions by default.
Interesting that the taxpayer still owns 22% of the Bank having bailed out RBS (now Nat West) many years ago and our politicians whilst uncomfortable (so they say) did not a lot publicly to challenge the Directors, unless of course it was all behind closed doors.
Did the Banking Ombudsman get involved, if not why not ?
Data Protection ?
July 26, 2023
BA – The government still owns 38.6% of Natwest/RBS, which (as the government has no money) means the taxpayers are on the hook. Interesting that City grandees are protesting that if the Board (which tacitly allowed the bank’s politicisation under its CEO) are forced to resign, the bank’s share price would fall.
This is rather like a hostage-taker’s threat: ‘Do as we say, or the kid gets it.’ But Natwest’s share price has already *halved* since the government took it over in November 2008, and the taxpayer has already taken billions of losses on the government’s untimely sales.
The correct conclusion should be: to replace the entire Board, and never in future to use taxpayers’ money to support any financial enterprise caught out by its own greed and incompetence.
July 26, 2023
From Downing Street according to the Media
“Everyone would expect people in public life – whether thatâs in a business leadership role or otherwise – to act responsibly and with integrity.”
More of this please. Lets have the Citizens of the UK through their elected representatives put back in charge of how ours lives and our Government(the State) acts. No more woolly outside thinking, group think and flaky advisors with their virtue signalling Woke Agendaâs. That is just look at me posturing with the aim of self gratification and ego stroking by those they contribute nothing, while those that work hard pay for it. Common sense and logic would solve all the UKâs Situations.
July 26, 2023
âEveryone would expect people in public life â whether thatâs in a business leadership role or otherwise â to act responsibly and with integrity.â
Was that announcement released by Lady Mone?
July 27, 2023
Ian B, they must have been laughing their heads off when they released that. How long ago is it since we had a government that acted responsibly and with integrity?
July 26, 2023
I think were most people will feel aggrieved especially given the 70 year high of UK tax that everyone is now paying that keeps getting thrown away by Government with no one taking responsibility and no one able to account for it. That transgressions against us all of this size get rewarded and we are the paymasters.
July 26, 2023
The government got involved because it was a Bank and they are always fair game.
No such pile ins for cancelling/gaslighting etc for diversity/transgender etc in academia/public security etc.
So their cowardice has in a way led to the situation at NatWest and across corporate life where free speech/alternative views are under attack.
Indeed NatWestâs Board obviously agreed with the closure of Farageâs accounts but not trumpeting the reason to the BBC by having full confidence and thinking they could get away with a slap on the wrist.by doing that they have also shown to be unfit for purpose.
July 26, 2023
One important revelation is the overtly leftwing political tendency of corporate ESG, its triffid-like growth, and the almost conspiratorial way it has been used by state and corporate employees to undermine genuine business interests. Organizations like B-Corp and Stonewall need much stricter holding to account.
ESG has had far too easy a ride from financial institutions. Its basis needs serious interrogation.
July 26, 2023
The problem is the threat to freedom of speech in general.
The bailed out NatWest is owned largely by the taxpayer so the Govt has a duty to act against it.
This is but the near finality of the death of democracy in the UK.
The Equalities Act demands that large companies and corporations have a Diversity and Equalities Officer and these quickly become the most powerful person in the organisation – they act on woke issues with zeal.
So Farage and others have been cancelled from using a bank and the clear message to the rest of us is “If you don’t tow the correct political line then keep your mouth shut.”
This has long applied to workers in general who can lose their job for expressing conservative views in or out of the workplace.
And what of the BBC ? They pressed for disclosure of personal information for their story (political campaign in reality) this is of a different magnitude altogether to the helicopter flow over Sir Cliff Richard’s home.
14 years of Tory rule and EVERYTHING has gone to ruin.
July 26, 2023
It is also a great argument against the cash-less society. Banks will be able to decide the politics of a nation otherwise.
July 26, 2023
The current “Conservative” government is basically a LibDem government…it certainly isn’t the Conservative party of which I was a member…indeed one was a member of an Association as I recall, not the Party. In other words, it was local and not the centralised London dominated set of apparatchiks entirely out of touch with their core vote.
July 27, 2023
+1
July 26, 2023
The Nat West board of directors admitted to their CEO having transgressed a cardinal rule of banking, but were nevertheless willing to overlook it. That really says a great deal about the deficiencies of the board. If the board members who indulged in such conduct do not have the decency to resign they should be unceremoniously sacked by the shareholders.
July 26, 2023
I think banks should do banking not social engineering. Is there a written statement of the VALUES espoused by Coutts so I can check whether theyâll accept this millionaire? I have views.
July 26, 2023
The Bank CEO just didnât come up with the idea by herself
She was given the nod, the wink, the encouragement, the authority and the justification for a policy of (1) politically exposed persons, (2) wokeness & inclusivity and (3) anti fossil fuels by the BoE, the Treasury and this Tory Government âŠ.all following the guidance of the Financial Conduct Authority FG17/6 (2017) derived from EU directives
July 26, 2023
I run an FCA regulated business and hold client money on behalf of Insurers in a separate regulated and audited account. My commercial banking facilities were cancelled by Handelsbanken because they were worried about money laundering. I am regulated by the same organisation as the bank and I have anti money laundering provisions in place, but still they would not budge.
This was probably the most stressful period during my 30 years in business as no other bank wanted to know. Without a bank account I could not trade, and the business would have worthless. Eventually thanks to the intervention of a client Lloyds agreed to give me a facility, but it took months and nearly broke me.
July 26, 2023
Too many of these stories. What is the Ombudsman doing? The ombudsman needs to be abolished and the bankers subject to criminal legislation for discriminatory actions.
July 26, 2023
The ombudsman system should be replaced with an enhanced version of the small claims court approach, where the verdicts are taken by a properly trained and accountable judge, instead of the poor imitation the various ombudsman employ.
July 27, 2023
+1. The money laundering regulation is way over the top and seems to be aimed at the little guy in a pretence at effectiveness, while the big fish are able to use complex ploys to evade it.
July 27, 2023
the ploys are not that complex
they just lie and refuse to release facts
July 26, 2023
Interested to see Howard Davies pop up as Chairman of Nat West. I remember him from the 1980s since when heâs had multiple jobs and sinecures with Quangos/NGOs/Charities etc. The cosy old boy network personified which is presumably why he announced he had full confidence in the CEO when no outside observer could possibly have come to that conclusion. Still, only a few hours later when Iâm guessing his own position might have been under threat it turned out he didnât have any confidence in her after all and she left. I assume after a few months silence sheâll be back in another high status position with salary/pension intact and Howard Davies will continue serenely as before. My suggestion to the government would be to use their shareholding to put Farage on the Nat West board and see how they like that.
July 26, 2023
Well Nigel Farage has been, as always, an excellent handler of situations. That’s why Remainer types despise and castigate him. Doesn’t need to brown-nose and speak nicely to those with “influence” because he thinks straight and handles himself in a straightforward trader-like manner. Right from wrong, profit from loss, good from bad.
That’s what they hate about him.
Long may he continue.
July 26, 2023
For me it shows the low quality of the information commissioners office, financial conduct authority, financial ombudsman service who are all substandard. The relationship with the big financial institutions is far too close, with revolving doors of staff constantly moving between them. No proper impartiality rules enforced as they would be with police officers or judges. So the big financial institutions know they can routinely get away with bad things. It is only Nigel being able to shine the sunlight disinfectant of publicly on it in this one case that has achieved anything.
July 26, 2023
Sorry O/T but some here appear interested in SMRs.
So worth reading are:
gov.uk 18/07/2023 âBritish nuclear revival to move towards energy independenceâ
And at the end of this document, some additional documents to click on, in particular
gov.uk 18/07/2023 âNuclear Fuel Fund (NFF): Projects awarded fundingâ
gov.uk 19/07/2023 âSmall Modular Reactors: Competitive technology selection processâ
If I understand well the last paragraph of this second document, the Final Investment Decision for SMRs is not likely to be taken before ⊠2029.
July 26, 2023
UK canât be energy independent with nuclear because we donât have our own Uranium. Take a look at which countries are the biggest exporters.
July 26, 2023
Thank you for this Hefner. It confirms that , even if by some miracle the Conservatives remained in power for a further decade, they would still have presided over an absolute fall in atomic power output.
July 26, 2023
Don’t worry about your bank account, the WHO Pandemic Accord that this unelected gang of criminals masquerading as a government is signing up to will enforce surveillance, censorship, no liabilty for big corporations and much less regulation of their products.
Stop obeying, stop complying or it won’t matter you haven’t got money because you’ll be very sick or dead locked in your house.
July 26, 2023
Who proposed to terminate the account? Who arranged/asked for a report on the individual? Who reviewed the libellous report? Who of the recipients agreed on taking the action? Who disagreed and recorded that opinion?
Who passed the decision to the Natwest Board? Who knew the CEO would discuss it with a BBC employee?
and finally surely this needs to be a Police investigation for disgraceful and wrongful libel if not slander?
The individual ought to make a claim asserting irrevocable damage to his character and future public profile/opportunities. I would suggest a case into multi- ÂŁmillions?
16.26
July 26, 2023
All good suggestions but sheâll get a huge pay-off and big pension
July 26, 2023
What has been happening to this country is nothing short of sinister.
Deliberate attacks on democracy occur almost daily. Freedom of speech, religion and politics should form the foundations a of a democratic society. Yet we have seen how students are banning lectures from persons and parties that do not confirm to their own affiliations, to those blocking our roads refusing to allow persons to go to work and to hospital, social media deleting the blogs of an elected POTUS while permitting serial human rights abusers, Communist China, to post. And here, the latest despicable revelation, UK banks closing the account of those who do not follow the personal political preferences of the Board. This is the UK, not the USSR.
If we had a strong Government with extra strong leadership, these attempts to destabilise our country would be promptly stopped in their tracks and the perpetrators made to answer for their anti-social anti-democracy actions in court.
After all, where are the rights of those humans so affected by their disgraceful and unwarranted actions?
July 26, 2023
Yes, and don’t forget, Derek, that we have a government that decided to base the biggest decision it ever faced, in March 2020, on the way Communist China was dealing with the situation, locking down its people. That tells you a lot.
July 26, 2023
Dear Sir John,
Mr Farage’s case was revealed to be political but most cases of bank accounts being refused or closed are not. Likewise Coutts is not a typical bank. Although it proclaims its values to be inclusive, its commercial raison d’etre is to be exclusive.
The greater problem is that the Treasury and retail banks, for different reasons, used the Covid crisis to mount a decisive assault on the cash economy. But they have not realised that this turns bank accounts into an essential utility service with all its implications.
Just as it is effectively illegal in most cases to cut off someone’s water or electricity supply for non-payment, it needs to to be illegal to cut off anyone’s bank account or to refuse to supply a new customer ( as with a new urban house) without exceptional reasons. Even the most obnoxious criminal, unless in gaol, is entitled to a suppl of availablewater. Retail banks should also expect to have interest rates and minimum standards of service regulated and monitored systematically.
The biggest economic issue seems to be that new start-ups, self-employed, etc are refused business accounts on tick-box tests, stifling incipient enterprise. What happens to Alan Sugars of tomorrow?
In your categorization, banks may appear to be a competitive private service. But Mr Farage’s experience of bein refused service by 10 other banks illustrates how a common digital tick-box culture effectively removes competition.
July 26, 2023
NatWest needs to be seen to be cleansed to restore public confidence so the dismissals cannot end with Rose.
We need to know the bank has changed and one individual resigning over one aspect of this sorry affair, egregious certainly but not the most serious, is not enough to do that.
July 26, 2023
They need to publically disband their âpolitically exposed personsâ committee
July 26, 2023
The Coutts CEO and the NatWest Chairman have to go too. I do not agree with Government Minister Christopher Philp who rays that Dame Rose is the only person culpable.
July 26, 2023
I suspect that banking needs to shrink back its mission statement to the quality, and quality only, of the banking services it offers. It is correct for banks to decline facilities to any criminal activity, but other than that it should be enshrined in UK law that everyone is entitled to a bank account. I will be very interested in the way in which government handles this.
July 26, 2023
How fortunate we are that Farage didn’t go to Oxford or Cambridge otherwise who would fight the EU and the hate and violence of woke fascism that now controls all areas of our life
July 26, 2023
If you have an account with Natwest close it. The problem is that to open a new account anywhere one has to provide one’s life history and then if it does not fit the Woke LBTQWTF agenda, forget it.
July 26, 2023
We are seriously considering. Now Wokingham branch is housed in Bracknell, it is a feeling of ‘who cares’ from the Big Five.
July 27, 2023
PC: âOneâs life historyâ: absolutely not true.
I recently opened accounts with two banks/building societies because of the saving rate on their regular saving accounts isbetter than the one available from my regular bank. I had to provide name, address, DoB, NIN, email address, and the reference of the bank from which I was making the initial deposit. And that was it. They did not even ask what my occupation is.
And the reason for this is obviously that all relevant information is already available from the credit reference agencies, Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, âŠ
July 28, 2023
HEF – You obviously like to share all your personal information?
July 30, 2023
Donât be ridiculous. Look at these credit agencies under your name and you will see the information they have on you. Only useless/hapless people never check these things.
July 26, 2023
home office data as at 25th July
Illegal immigrants – 51
Small boats – 1
July 27, 2023
Glen
I wonder which Bank they all use, clearly they have money to allegedly pay the people smugglers (all in cash I assume), but the funds must come from somewhere, but how do they access it without any identity ?
July 27, 2023
where does the cash or ‘transfers’ get paid in? Surely the numerous similarity in credits to a bank account (where) ought to be identified?
July 27, 2023
I donât believe they pay cash, rather a debt which has to be repaid by slavery work âŠwe need to stop all boats
July 27, 2023
Good morning.
Let us hope that when all is said and done, some good may come of this.
July 27, 2023
Good morning Sir John
Thank you for featuring this important issue
Two queries:
1 Subject Access Requests are applicable to personal, but not business, accounts. This needs to be urgently reviewed by government to provide small businesses with access to banking services
2 There should be no discrimination against new customers opening business or personal accounts and banks should be required to state grounds for denying banking access when requested. This clearly requires legislation
I remember that when US banks discriminated against ethnic groups by closing branches in certain ethnic areas, President Clinton did not hesitate to act decisively, requiring banks to provide banking services without fear or favour, as a condition of the privilege of being awarded a banking licence
July 27, 2023
Notable that she only resigned (and was asked to resign) because of the data protection implications of her actions and not the introduction of a policy to remove facilities for people deemed unworthy by the bank’s principles.
Given that this bank deliberately liquidated viable small businesses who owed them money I don’t think they should be preaching values to us.
We ned Government to protect us from ESG investors not making policy on net zero.
July 27, 2023
This morning I saw a YouTube video in which Danny Kruger MP was quizzing the FCA about this issue (presumably at a Select Committee hearing). If I heard him correctly the FCA official said in effect that what NatWest/Coutts had done was illegal.
This example of extreme wokery is not confined to the banks. I now read, in company Annual Report after Annual Report, multiple pages devoted to ESG issues. This must affect some of the smaller quoted AIM companies who depend on a small handful of key executives for survival and success. Such is the zeal exhibited by some larger companies that they have taken it upon themselves to police their suppliers to ensure they comply with every jot and tittle of their interpretation of the regulations on pain of losing their business if they do not comply. I think this Stasi-style development deserves parliamentary scrutiny.
July 27, 2023
The taxpayer still owns 39% of NatWest. Why? At a time when the nation is desperately trying to control then reduce State debt, selling this stake would be a good start. It’s yet another example of alleged Conservative intentions not being matched by deeds.
The Chancellor has at long last payed lip service to the idea of reducing public expenditure. It seems that he mainly has in mind postponing or cancelling capital projects. He shows no sign of getting rid of public sector non-jobs and overmanning, nor of forbidding the BoE selling Government bonds at a loss and passing on the losses to taxpayers.
Sir John, you need to mount a full scale rebellion against the Sunak/Hunt/Bailey axis and all its works, otherwise the Conservative Party hasn’t a cat in Hell’s chance of winning the General Election.
Reply Selling the remaining Nat west shares has been on my list of spending cuts for HMT for a long time
July 28, 2023
I was a bank clerk in the 1960s and confidentiality was in our contract. I cannot understand why sackings were not on the cards from day one. The country really has gone down in standards since my time as a bank clerk when the customer was the ultimate goal for cultivating and giving good service to.
August 4, 2023
The Chancellor has asked the FCA to investigate and punish/fine the banks should they find further cases of debanking based on invalid rationale. This should go further and cover the numbers for acceptance and refusals numbers of initial customer applications, including especially the actual reasons for refusal… Nigel has stated NINE further banks had refused his applications as have some MP’s, their families and many others.
I think we should be told….