Show some respect to Parliament and to the people who give you your livelyhoods in factoring

The influential House of Commons Treasury select committee has recently reprimanded the part-taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland for being economical with the truth when giving evidence. 
The industries trade body the Asset Based Finance Association was ridiculed when it submitted evidence to the Treasury Select committee. 

 

Martin Morrin the Chairman of ABFA was left looking a rather pathetic figure with no concept what was going on the asset based finance industry.

Andrew Tyrie, the committee’s chairman, in his letter to Derek Sach, of the bank’s Global Restructuring Group – regarded by some small businesses as the hit squad – pointed out that it appeared the bank had known of the concerns of one small businessman, yet in its evidence and its follow-up letter, failed to mention this apparent fact.

Whatever the truth or otherwise of the RBS/select committee row, the reality is that this is not a side issue. It is becoming clear that a number of senior regulators and business people appear to treat parliamentary select committees and inquiries with little short of contempt.

In many ways the standard was set by the now dissolved FSA, but senior bankers too more or less share this attitude, that the committee is a waste of time. Many may recall Bob Diamond, late of Barclays Bank, suggesting that we put the banking crisis behind us and move on.

Apart from this breathtaking arrogance, it is important to remind those people and their chorus of supporters that Britain is a parliamentary democracy, that select committees act on behalf of parliament and must be accorded the full respect and co-operation that they would give, for example, a court of law.

In our system parliament is supreme, and anyone treating a lawfully appointed parliamentary committee with contempt, whether in the veracity of their evidence or in their general demeanour, should be brought before the bar and charged.

Bankers or others giving evidence before a US senate committee would face contempt charges if in many ways they behaved in the manner in which our regulators and senior business people seem to do before the UK parliament.

Many of us are horrified that the factoring industry believes that it is not answerable to any institution, not the Treasury, nor parliament.

We will put this right!