Member

So the Treasury has to be consulted, and then the second element of what I think the Minister will say is that consent will be needed if public funds are used. I made this point earlier and I will make it again: banks do not pay. Banks are just buildings or legal structures. They do not pay; it is the customers who pay. Actually, it is not only the customers who pay but the shareholders. The shareholders are not big bad pension funds; those pension funds hold the pensions of real working people, who will end up paying through the levy. The distinction between public funds and, “Don’t worry, the big bad banks are going to pay”, does not really wash because the direct, the indirect and the opportunity costs to this are pretty enormous.