Originally published @ 9:25 am, Mon 25th Oct 2010
Congratulations to Chris Leslie, Nottingham East’s new MP, on becoming a Labour frontbench spokesperson only 5 months into the new Parliament.
It’s possible however, than in becoming the spokesperson for the City and the banking sector, he’s landed the short straw, if he’s expected to speak up for financial services!
It is of course, now, one of the most controversial areas. If Britain has become over-reliant on the sector, do you really try to wean the country off it if the businesses provide excellence (by the sector’s standards)? Can you spread the sector around the country more? (Nottingham has benefitted from the success of Capital One and Experian). How much do you regulate and can regulation really foresee the flaws of the next new financial product, or foresee the next bubble? Is there a stronger role again for mutual societies? What would be a proper bonus system? Can you apply a share transaction tax to perhaps damp down the markets a bit, to build up a system for the sector to pay back for its own disasters, and to contribute to third world poverty in the meantime (hence the name, “Robin Hood Tax”). And seek this reform in a sector that is decidedly global and probably needs worldwide agreements to make real change.
Chris is pretty smart and has already got all this sussed, using his spare time to solve Hilbert’s eighth mathematical problem (the Riemann hypothesis). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert's_problems
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