John McFall: Floated the idea that all banks could be nationalised

Banks facing fury from ministers over their refusal to boost lending were today warned they could be nationalised if they refused to increase the flow of loans to firms and mortgages.

Benedict Brogan and Nicholas Cecil, Daily Mail – 21st November 2008

Labour MP John McFall, chairman of the Commons Treasury select committee, stressed he was “firing a warning shot” on his and other people’s behalf.

Mr McFall, who is seen as close to both Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling, floated the idea that all banks could be nationalised, as happened in Sweden in the Nineties, if they refused to increase the flow of loans to firms and mortgages to avoid a deeper and more prolonged recession.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m firing a warning shot for the Financial Services Authority, banks and others. There is a real frustration building up here. We better get something done before the lid is blown off.”

Mr McFall spoke out just hours after it was reported that Mr Darling is considering a “nuclear option” of tougher laws to make banks increase lending. Full Article