News archive – 2012

Posted on 2012-07-06 | 11:28

Mr Roger Godsiff (Birmingham, Hall Green) (Lab): After the nationwide disturbances last year, a student was given a six-month sentence for stealing a pack of water bottles.

What punishment does the Chancellor believe would be appropriate for bankers who have stolen millions of pounds from investors through rigging interest rates?

Mr Osborne: I completely understand and sympathise with the sentiment that the hon. Gentleman is expressing: people suffer criminal penalties for offences involving much, much smaller sums of money—a fraction of the sums that we are talking about. The Serious Fraud Office, which is independent of the Government, is looking at the matter. Let us wait to hear what it has to say. It is looking at what laws are available to let it do that. I am sure that he would not want the Government of the day to undertake the criminal prosecutions themselves.

Professional Standards in the Banking Industry Debate.

Posted on 2012-07-05 | 11:30

Mr Roger Godsiff (Birmingham, Hall Green) (Lab): I strongly support the proposal for a judicial inquiry.

I am sure that under the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr Tyrie) a parliamentary inquiry will do its best, but I think that for the reasons that have been advanced today there is a need for a judicial inquiry, because as the hon. Member for Dundee East (Stewart Hosie) and the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (Mr Davis) have said, this issue goes way beyond fiddling the LIBOR rate. This is a much bigger issue, and it is the bigger issue that needs to be addressed.

Whether the inquiry is parliamentary or judicial, I have concerns about the continual emphasis on the need to do something about the culture and standards of banking, because it implies that if we change the people at the top of banking we will change the behaviour. Would that were the case. I do not believe that it is. There are of course many people who work in banks who do an excellent job. They work very hard, they do not get paid a great deal of money or share in massive bonuses, and they are as disgusted as we are by what has gone on, but even if the most pious, puritanical person is put in charge of a den of inequity, they will eventually be corrupted.

Posted on 2012-07-05 | 11:34

That is what happens when someone is put on a trading floor, and I speak as somebody who worked in a bank.

Many years ago I worked for Coutts, when it did what traditional retail banks did—what the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (John Thurso) described, and what the general public want. But if somebody is put on a trading floor and deals in obscure derivatives and other financial products, they will be either corrupted by what goes on, crushed by their peers or, if he or she is very brave, turned into a whistleblower.

Of course, there is a culture in banking that needs to be looked at—the culture of remuneration and bonuses. However, it is not just banking that has a culture whereby somebody who is paid to do a job, such as a nurse, teacher or bank clerk, and then expects to get a massive great bonus for doing it, irrespective of whether they do it well or badly. This is far removed from the lives of the general public because of the amounts of money being talked about. Bob Diamond has earned £100 million, and if he walks away the question is whether he will get £20 million. Twenty million pounds is way beyond what the vast majority of our constituents can expect to earn in a lifetime, even if we add in their pension pots, so we are talking about a surreal world as far as the wider public are concerned.

To be fair to the Business Secretary, he has said that the problem can be addressed through shareholder power. That is naïve, however, because the biggest shareholders of public companies are the institutions—and many of the people in those institutions sit on other boards, so it all becomes an incestuous circle. Different remuneration committees can consist of the same people. It all comes down to, “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.”

If the Government were serious about making radical changes to the culture that I have just referred to, they could do worse than limit the number of directorships of publicly quoted companies that any one person can have. They could also change the rules so that the remuneration committees of all publicly quoted companies had a majority of small shareholders. That would really send shock waves across the institutions, but not the shareholders, who would welcome the opportunity.

Time is running out. We need to change not just the culture but the structure of banking. In 1986, the wild west came back—all the firewalls and protections put in place following the previous financial crisis in 1929 were swept away. We are all responsible in some part for that; we created the masters of the universe, who have not done us any favours. We have to go back to basics and reconstruct a banking system that is fit for purpose, serves the people and is not self-serving for a small minority.

Posted on 2012-05-23 | 11:37

I am opposed to the increase Fuel Duty on petrol and diesel from the 1st August which will push up the price of petrol and diesel by approximately 16p a gallon.

I have signed the Amendment to the Finance Act which would stop this rise going ahead because I believe, particularly at this moment in time, the placing yet another burden on hard-pressed families and small businesses cannot be justified.

The Coalition Government is seeking to raise extra revenue to reduce the financial deficit and an increase in Fuel Duty is going to impact severely on many businesses and will lead to less economic activity while also taking more money out of the pockets of consumers. This will depress even more the desperate need for growth in the economy and will merely increase Government borrowing because there will be more people out of work and therefore less tax being paid while unemployment expenditure will increase.

Posted on 2012-05-15 | 11:40

Roger has welcomed the £5,000 reward offered by the crime fighting charity Crimestoppers for information regarding the attack on the 94 year old, Emma Winnall who lives in Pensby Close, Moseley.

Roger said: “The attack on this defenceless elderly lady while she was asleep in her home was absolutely outrageous and the individual, or individuals, involved must be tracked down and brought before the Courts.

The senseless attack was without any purpose whatsoever because nothing appears to have been stolen and in view of the fact that there appears to have been no forced entry into the property it would appear that the intruder may have had access to the property before.

The ferocity of the attack and the senseless nature of it is beyond belief and could only have been carried out by an individual, or individuals, who cannot be described as normal human beings.

I would urge anybody who has suspicions about who could have carried out the attack to share their information with the local Police or Crimestoppers as soon as possible.”

Posted on 2012-05-15 | 11:42

In a letter to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, Birmingham Hall Green MP, Roger Godsiff has sort assurances that any of the convicted who were not born in the UK will deported on completing their sentences.

Mr Godsiff said: “I have received a number of representations from members of the Muslin community living in my constituency who are disgusted and appalled by what these men did to vulnerable young girls and a number of them are strongly of the view that these individuals have no right to be part of British society.

He went on to say: “While I understand that those individuals who were born in this country have a legal entitlement to remain here I note that the ring leader is 59yrs old and may not have been born here”.

Mr Godsiff concluded: “ I have sort assurances that those members of the gang who were not born in the UK but who have been allowed to come here, settle, and may have become British citizens will have their entitlement to be here and any citizenship rights removed and that they will be deported at the end of their sentences”.

In other press coverage of the trial proceedings it has been suggested that at least two of the convicted will be deported at the conclusion of their sentences.