Clegg: The banks are holding a gun to our head
By politics.co.uk staff
Nick Clegg has launched his most violent attack on the banks yet, saying the City of London has “held a gun to the head of the British economy”.
Speaking to politics.co.uk, in a half-hour video interview conducted in association with Yahoo!, the Liberal Democrat leader kept up the pressure on the banks, despite concerns in the City that his tactics would drive away investment from the UK.
“It’s an outrage – a complete economic and moral outrage – the way that the the greed of he bankers of the City of London has held a gun to the head of the British economy,” he said.
Watch the full Nick Clegg interview here
“[It] has had a direct knock-on effect so young people find they can’t find work, homes are being repossessed, people are very scared about their economic prospects – and what’s happened to the bankers? They’re still raking in the bonuses.”
The Liberal Democrats are calling for a ten per cent levy on bank profits, in a campaign which alienated many key figures in the City, who are wary of the power the party might hold in the event of a hung parliament.
But asked if he was concerned that his statements might trigger a flight of capital from the UK, Mr Clegg was unapologetic.
“[This recession] was started by banks and bankers, basically fuelled by greed and deeply irresponsible business models,” he said.
“The whole thing has imploded.”
Elsewhere in the interview Mr Clegg discussed his secret smoking habit, his personal opposition to euthanasia and his actions in the event of a hung parliament.
