Clegg: All must support the banking rescue package

9.44.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 8th Oct 2008

Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg has called for all political parties to support the Government’s banking rescue package on what he described as a “day of reckoning for the British economy”.

Speaking shortly after Alistair Darling announced the £50bn package, Mr Clegg described a “fundamental shift in the way we view banks” and called for the obligations banks have to the public to change for good.

He said: "With the support banks are now receiving, it is no longer justifiable to impose aggressive repossession policies on homeowners and insolvency policies on businesses.

“The short-term bonus driven ethos must end today, starting with an end to all bonuses for bank board members whose role it is to ensure the stability of banks over the next decade rather than maximising profit over the next few months.

"However, this is only one part of the jigsaw. We also need wider changes to help ordinary families: a cut in interest rates, tax cuts for those on low and middle incomes and a significant overhaul of the regulations governing the banking system.

"Finally, although we fully support the steps taken today by our own Government, its is clear that what is also needed is international agreement on a new regulatory framework. Unilateral efforts are unsustainable.

"Today we have seen a national response to a global crisis. Any long-term solution must be global too."