Gareth Thomas

Indeed, the FCA said something similar to me at a roundtable with some charities. What is clearly needed is the will to publish that data and to sort out the remaining gaps in the data. The banks’ success has come through being particularly selective in who they lend and offer detailed financial advice to. Their contributions to helping build the capacity of those financial institutions that do lend to everybody have been much more limited—in some cases, non-existent. It is the responsibility of Government to lead on tackling market failures, but as in other countries, banks in the UK have a responsibility to help, and not enough of them are helping to build the capacity of community banks, credit unions and CDFIs to do so. Just as it was right to ask banks to pay a bit more tax to support people with their energy bills, so we should ask them to work with us to create a more diverse, resilient and, crucially, inclusive financial system that will serve every community in the decades ahead. Everyone in this House surely supports easing the cost of living and delivering good growth in every postcode. Fair access to credit is critical to both those ambitions. I hope that Ministers can be persuaded to back further steps on affordable credit as the Bill progresses. A financial system that works for everyone is fundamental to tackling the cost of living crisis.