Cable challenged on bank lending at Chamber dinner

BUSINESS Secretary Vince Cable was challenged on the continuing lack of funding from the banks for small and medium-sized firms, at last night’s Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce annual dinner.

During a question and answer session with the 900-strong audience at Manchester Central, Dr Cable was forced to acknowledge that despite much rhetoric on the issue a “very serious problem remains.”

He was questioned on the issue by Mike Blackburn, the regional  boss of BT and the new chairman of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership.

Dr Cable said: “Yes, it’s the SMEs who are being squeezed very hard by the banks and we are aware of the problems. It’s no good now just shouting at the banks – and I have done a fair amount of that.

“The temptation is to be angry and shout a lot, but it only takes us so far, and we have to come up with practical measures to remedy the problem.”

Dr Cable said in his speech the Coalition Government had been forced to take ‘tough and painful decisions’ in addressing the budget deficit to shore up an economy in peril of losing its AAA credit rating.

He said the situation in Portugal – where a multi-billion pound EU bail-out is being sought – proved that tough action was required.

He pledged too to continue a war of red tape, and to provide selective assistance to help the economy grow.

On the issue of regulation he said the Government would be ultra-vigilant on introducing new laws, which businesses would have to comply with, and continue with a ‘one in, one out’ policy.

“Some of these regulations are there for good reasons, protecting employees, businesses or the public, but some serve no purpose at all.

“The onus is now on me and my fellow ministers to justify a regulation, rather than on you telling us to do something about it.”

Chamber President Martin Douglas, boss of Trafford Park food processing giant Cargills, used his speech to lobby for Government help on a range of issues, from assistance in tackling price instability in global commodity markets to help addressing worklessness in Greater Manchester.

Entertainment was provided by popular comedian John Bishop.