Scrap the FSA now!

12.00.00am GMT Thu 19th Feb 2009

People of the High Peak must be asking the same question as I every week, how much worse can this depression get, and why after bailing out the majority of our banks, so in reality Britain has nationalised the banking system yet we are still paying bonuses to these people?

In the vast majority of cases these employees are in effect civil servants being paid out of the public purse, it now seems certain we the tax payer are going to have to take over the Lloyds TSB/ Halifax.

I am afraid the argument of both Labour and Tories doesn't wash that the majority of the staff are only receiving around £17,000 salaries. Firstly people knew how much income they would earn when they took the job on, secondly if we the tax payer had not bailed them out most of them would be on the dole. Why are people in financial services being protected and paid bonus when thousands of our citizens are being made redundant daily?

The next question which needs answering why are millions of tax payer pounds being wasted on the Financial Services Authority. As someone who is regulated by then I can speak from total experience! It is a total and utter waste of time and our money, just another un-elected government body which has singularly failed to do anything productive. It is far too big, bureaucratic, a total drain on the public purse and totally unaccountable.

Since it came into being we have had endowment miss-selling, pension mis-selling, the collapse of Barlow Clowes investments, Equitable Pension holders being de-frauded out of their money and the complete and absolute trashing of the mortgage industry. Their track record is a national disgrace, the senior management should be sacked immediately, and the government minister in charge should resign. Oops that's Gordon Brown!

I noticed when Lord Adair Turner was appointed as the new Chair in September 2008 the vacancy wasn't advertised in the local media, this is just another case of 'jobs for the boys'. This regulatory system wants abolishing and abolishing now, it is another government institution with fat cat salaries employing people who have little or no financial services experience on gold plated pensions.

I am the first to accept we need regulation to protect the consumer not a government monolith with fancy plush offices in Canary Wharf bleeding the tax payer dry.

Previously the Bank of England regulated banks, Insurance was regulated by LAUTRO and Building Societies by their Association which worked well and run by people who had years of experience in their field.

If wonder those residents of the High Peak who have recently made redundant or under threat at the present are pleased with Gordon Brown's 'Greed is Good' culture, which brought our banking system to near collapse, a policy supported by our MP Tom Levitt for the past twelve years.