Whilst tabloid attention may have been grabbed by tourists stripping off at the top of a sacred mountain in Malaysia, decision-makers gathered at Mansion House to hear the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, and the Chancellor, George Osborne, map out an ethical future for the City.
So what can we learn from the political news this week?
- The City can expect more intervention. Mark Carney’s speech left nothing to the imagination. More regulation and intervention is coming.
- The state is being stripped back. Osborne’s announcement that RBS shares will be sold comes shortly after the announcement of the sale of half the remainder of the Government’s Royal Mail shares. The Government wants a smaller state.
- Is the UK a good place to do business? Combined with Carney’s comments, London First were on featured in the media complaining about visas and the tech sector has expressed concern about new surveillance legislation. HSBC announced 8,000 jobs losses in the UK and are still considering moving their headquarters away from London. Cameron and Osborne will doubtless address some of these concerns in the forthcoming Budget.
- Europe keeps on going. My fear is that Europe gets a mention in this list every week but Cameron’s wavering on whether Ministers could openly oppose EU membership in a referendum shows a lack of strategy. He is now engaged in a stakeholder management programme to get a deal done.
- Policy announcements are not confined to Parliament. This may not come as much of a shock but the announcement of the RBS share sell-off was made during Osborne’s Mansion House speech, not to Parliament and not as part of the Budget. This is far cry for David Cameron’s criticism of the last Labour government for making announcements in the media and not in Parliament. It’s a lesson that speeches remain important.