bank reform

Todays' publication of the report on banking reform is a real test for the government, the coalition and the Lib Dems. It does not need any more time for consideration, because everybody has known for months what its conclusions were likely to be.

The money doen't matter here, does it ? What matters is the public perception of the banks and the politicians who regulate them. I have read that the opponents of such reform argue that too much regulation will drive banks away. This argument has a huge gaping hole in it, which is that the crisis was precipitated by an absence of regulation. Part of the answer, therefore, simply cannot be less regulation.

Vince Cable and the Lib Dems have retreated often enough. One more capitulation could see them looking back anxiously at the edge of the cliff. As to the Government there is a weary predicatbility about the likelihood of delay, delay, delay. This is a myth. The regulation can be legislated immediately, in the financial services bill, even if the implementation comes in a couple of years time.