Local Business people take tea with Vince Cable

3.57.45pm GMT Tue 2nd Feb 2010

Vince Cable

Vince Cable, Treasury Spokesman and Deputy Leader of the Liberal

Democrats, visited Southport Town Hall last Saturday to take questions

from local business people about the economy, banks and the recession.

"Vince's economic knowledge is second to none," said local MP and

Treasury team colleague, Dr John Pugh. "it was great that members of

the local business community had a chance to ask their questions.

The majority of the concerns raised by those who attended centred

around the danger of heading back into recession and also about how

the power of the banks can be curbed."

Dr Cable was the first MP to predict the financial crisis when

Gordon Brown was proclaiming that he had 'abolished boom and bust'.

He opened the meeting by paying tribute to the hard work of local MP

and colleague John Pugh at a local and national level. He then went on to

talk about the state of the economy, comparing the UK to a heart

attack patient on life support following a crash. He went on to

outline his and the Liberal Democrats prescriptions for a return to

full health.

He said that the recent report of a 0.1% growth rate should not be

taken as a sign of a full recovery, and warned of the danger of the

country sliding back into recession. He warned that the patient has

been artificially propped up by the policy of quantitative easing,

and the support has to be withdrawn gradually to prevent the patient

from flatlining.

Apart from careful budget planning, he also emphasised the urgency

of large scale banking reform. He argued that banks should be

separated into high street and investment banks to prevent a future

financial crisis from occurring.

He also placed investment in infrastructure and education and training at

the top of the list ensure recovery and a more stable economy.

He also talked about the issue of public sector pensions and the

rising costs of senior judges, Civil Servants and MP's."There needs

to be more of a sense that the Country is being fair when it comes

to tax policy."

He was then quizzed on a variety of topics by members of the

audience on everything from credit card debt, to health and safety

regulations.

He stressed the need for sensible spending cuts and identified areas

where these cuts can be made. 'Quangos are not accountable, and can

be extremely financially wasteful. The Government scrapped the

Learning and Skills Council, yet there are now three more bodies in

its place. Also, while Regional Development Agencies may be

worthwhie in the North of the Country, why should they be needed in

London and the South, where the majority of business is concentrated?'

Combatting personal debt was another area on which he touched,

"Credit and Store card debts have caused problems for many young

people especially. Asset repossession has rocketed because many

simply did not know what the interest rates on these cards were. The

only way to stop this is to set a cap on interest rates, and to make

things more transparent."

When questioned about what steps he thought needed to be taken to

help small and medium sized businesses, he pointed out that the

Government has not used the nationalisation of several of the banks to

the full advantage of a key part of the economy. "The Credit Guarantee

Scheme was introduced by the Government to encourage smaller

businesses, but its not working. When business owners apply for the

scheme they are not told about the complex fifty pages of

forms they have to fill in. The Government now has Directors on the

Boards of several banks and they have not taken advantage of their

position to make it easier for businesses to get the help they

desperately need."