Oral Answers to Questions

Stephen Doughty Excerpts

Tuesday 11th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I agree with my hon. Friend. Under the previous Government’s system of financial regulation, there was a lack of clarity over who was responsible for financial stability, so when the alarm bells were ringing, no one was listening. We have reformed the system of financial regulation to address those failures by placing responsibility for financial stability firmly with the Bank of England and creating two newly focused financial regulators, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

If the Royal Bank of Scotland asks for permission to pay bonuses of more than 100% of salary—while, incidentally, its subsidiary NatWest closes branches in my constituency—will the Chancellor just say no, or is he as out of touch as the bank appears to be?

[Sajid Javid]

The failed regulation by the previous Government that led to Government ownership of RBS also produced a system of governance that is done on an arm’s length basis. Those are commercial decisions for RBS. If the hon. Gentleman wants to make representations to it, he can do so through me if he wishes.