Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the release of transcripts of text messages between the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Rt Hon David Cameron, what is the nature of the changes to the Covid Corporate Financing Faculty that the Chancellor of the Exchequer "pushed" officials to pursue with the Bank of England; and why such changes were rejected by the Bank.

This question was answered on 27th April 2021

As outlined in HM Treasury’s Freedom of Information releases on this issue – as well as in the Chancellor’s letter to the Shadow Chancellor, Greensill approached HM Treasury regarding access to the Covid Corporate Finance Facility (CCFF)

These meetings covered requests made by Greensill to, first, allow them to access the scheme by changing its terms and, second, to broaden its scope to allow supply chain finance (SCF) providers to access the scheme in general.

As is a matter of public record both of these requests were rejected but it is right that HM Treasury listened to – and gave due consideration to – all potential options to support businesses to survive the pandemic given the extraordinary challenges facing UK SMEs last Spring.