On this morning’s Today Programme Alistair Darling came as close as I reckon he’ll ever come to setting out his stance on guaranteeing bank deposits. He said:
“What we do in relation to that will differ from institution to institution…what I will do is in every single case and every single instance…I have been very clear I have never ruled anything out.”
So finally an answer of sorts, and that answer is the Chancellor will play each ball as it lies. Basically this means our savings are safe but it’s just a question of who ends up being the guardian – be it a Spanish bank or the government itself. Quite why it took this long to say “we’ll do our best to avoid guarantees but if it has to come to that so be it”, is beyond me. It would have brought considerable more certainty to everything.
On a separate point, at the press conference at Number 10 this morning, Gordon Brown specifically said there was nothing for him or the government to apologise for regarding the financial crisis. He also said we should not be looking at the past but at the future. Presumably this means the government will stop continually referring to what happened under Conservative rule a decade ago (when the parties suspend their current truce, that is).
Also, this surely means every Cabinet member questioned on the financial crisis will stop opening every single interview with the words “this is a problem that started in America…”
For more from Michael Millar, head over to Trading Floor.
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