| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:The Real Big Story : UK Economy continues to shrink under Gordon Brown | |
| Posted by: | Fraser Pearce | |
| Date/Time: | 28/10/09 18:23:00 |
| “I tend to find it highly contemptable that you can blame the current world economic situation on the UK government.” - David’s blaming the UK economic situation on the UK government, not the “world economic situation on the UK government”. ------- “Because of the deregulation promoted by the last Conservative government and left in place by Labour. The FSA largely patrolled the consumer end of things without interfering with the state of deregulation.” - No... Brown’s move to the single financial regulator model alone tends to contradict this. Labour were elected on 1st May 2007. On 6th May, Brown announced Bank of England monetary independence – a policy he was obliged to follow by the Major government signing the Maastricht Treaty (pledging the “process leading to the independence” would be complete by June 30th 1998). This, however, was about as far as it went in leaving Conservative regulatory policy in place – and it lasted less than a month... After that, almost nothing was “left in place by Labour.” 20 days after being elected, for example, Brown announced the SIB would become “the single regulator underpinned by statute” in order to “increase public confidence in the system”. The SIB was renamed the FSA. The SFA, IMRO and PIA were abolished, with existing regulatory agencies coming under the FSA wing. The Bank of England Act became law in 1998, the Financial Services and Markets Act in 2000, Lamfalussy’s “4 level regulatory approach” in 2001 led to the Committee of European Banking Supervisors. The FSA took the place of the SIB. And don’t forget the Financial Services Action Plan, the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors, the Committee of European Securities Regulators, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee and the European Banking Committee, the Inter-Institutional Monitoring Group, plus the Financial Services and Competition Directorates. In fact, after 20th May 2001, none of Labour’s financial services regulatory policy could be said to have been “promoted” by “the last Conservative government”. ------- “Makes it sound like we're not members already.” - Nope, based on your implying the UK can “eventually” emulate the EU model with “Asia”, it clarifies what’s possible under sole EEA or EFTA membership and what ain’t possible under the EU umbrella. There’s a profound difference between a customs union and a free trade area. You seemed to advocate free trade. Sorry if I got the end of the stick. |