Lib Dems to encourage lending from banks

The Liberal Democrats have been encouraging banks to start lending to businesses again whilst continuing with their election campaign in Scotland. The party has called on banks to start lending to successful businesses, stating that the banking industry is failing to meet lending targets despite the fact that so many banks are now partly state owned and therefore being funded by the taxpayer.

Nicol Stephen, the former Scottish Party leader, said that banks simply were not meeting their targets when it came to lending to businesses, and he launched a scathing attack on the Labour government stating that it had turned a blind eye to the bad lending practices of banks despite having ploughed so much of the taxpayer’s money into the banking industry.

Stephen added that if the Liberal Democrats come into power at the up and coming general election the party would force banks that are partly state owned to start lending again, and ensure that they were meeting their legal and contractual obligations when it came to lending targets for businesses.

Stephen stated: “Liberal Democrats would force state-backed banks like RBS and HBOS to start lending – if they didn’t meet our binding new targets, the board of directors would be held responsible and fired.”

Many banks have refused loans to many businesses over the past couple of years since the onset of the global financial crisis, despite the fact that this lending has been deemed essential to get the economy back on track. The Lib Dems claim that Labour should have tackled this but did nothing about it.

Mr Stephen added: “Taxpayers already own massive stakes in many high street banks but those banks still won’t meet their own legally binding targets for lending. Many successful businesses need money upfront and it’s in all our interests that they get it. Labour has turned a blind eye to bad banking practice.”