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Everyone knows that the Mayor of London defends London’s financial services industry. He would say it’s his job to lobby for companies in London that employ 330,000 people.
But it’s also his job to lobby on behalf of over 8,000,000 residents and almost 800,000 small and medium sized businesses who all need financial services that are on their side, contributing to a stable economy that shares wealth around more equally.
I’m not an expert on this very technical area, but I can see that there are lots of different views on the health of our banks, the dangers of our financial markets and the case for radical change. Anyone stung by the PPI mis-selling scandal, overcharged for their bank account or suffering from an economic slump triggered by out-of-control global finance has good reason to want their Mayor to fight their corner.
Everybody with a pension plan needs the financial markets to put profits into their funds, not into the pockets of high-frequency traders.
The one in three entrepreneurs that have been declined credit by high street banks, according to the Federation of Small Businesses, needs better support.
We need banks and financial markets that make a reasonable profit from servicing ordinary residents and small businesses, not one that makes huge private profits off our backs and then comes begging to the state for support when it all goes wrong.
Through detailed scrutiny, I have found that the Mayor is ignoring this case for reform. I brought together a roundtable of expert academics, researchers and campaigners to give me their take on the Mayor’s lobbying, and the alternatives he should get behind. In this report, I hope to persuade you that the Mayor:
- over-states the benefits of different parts of the financial services industry, while downplaying the damage they cause
- defends indefensible practices, such as pay levels that drive inequality within the sector and more widely across London
- exaggerates the dangers of reforms, particularly those coming from the European Union, and downplays their benefits
- ignores the possibility that our banks and financial markets are fundamentally flawed and need a radical overhaul, not just modest tweaks
Instead of listening to all the arguments and lobbying for London, I believe our Mayor has listened to and is lobbying for the City and Canary Wharf.