Wednesday 2 March 2011

Bank of England governor blames spending cuts on bank bailouts

Mervyn King tells MPs: 'The price of this financial crisis is being borne by people who absolutely did not cause it'

Mervyn King has risked reopening the bitter argument over blame for the financial crisis by saying that government spending cuts are the fault of the City and expressing surprise there has not been more public anger.

The governor of the Bank of England said that people made unemployed and businesses bankrupted during the crisis had every reason to be resentful and voice their protest. He told the Treasury select committee that the billions spent bailing out the banks and the need for public spending cuts were the fault of the financial services sector.

"The price of this financial crisis is being borne by people who absolutely did not cause it," he said. "Now is the period when the cost is being paid, I'm surprised that the degree of public anger has not been greater than it has."

King has repeatedly pointed the finger at the City since the crisis erupted in 2007, but this was the first time he blamed bankers for the coalition's spending cuts.

So it wasn't the defecit, as we have been saying all along. The banks should be paying instead of profiting from the financial crisis. But while public services burn the 'Boy' George Osborne fiddles... and allows the banks to gorge themselves at our expense.

Read more here.