Osborne accused of obstructing MPs over Co-op and Lloyds Bank deal
George Osborne was accused of unreasonably withholding information on ministers’ meetings with Lloyds and Co-op bankers in a series of confrontational letters published yesterday. He was accused of obstructing MPs trying to work out whether the government pressured bank executives into their ill-fated deal.
The chancellor claims ongoing probes prevent him from telling the Treasury Select Committee when ministers met the bankers.
MPs want to know if the ministers pressured Lloyds to sell the so-called Verde group of 632 branches to the Co-op for political reasons, rather than rival bidders such as Lord Levene’s NBNK.
The deal with the Co-op collapsed in 2013, and the branches have since been spun off as a standalone bank, TSB.
TSC chairman Andrew Tyrie wrote to Osborne to dismiss his objections, and demand the information be made public. “It is not reasonable to expect the committee to wait indefinitely for the information,” Tyrie wrote in a letter dated 23 July and published yesterday. “It will be more difficult for the committee to reach a firm conclusion on this without a more detailed response from the Treasury about the contacts that took place.”
In his first letter, in April, Osborne said: “The Treasury did not apply undue pressure” on Lloyds to pick Co-op for the deal.
And in a letter yesterday, he again declined to publish information on the meetings.
Lloyds has always insisted there was no pressure from politicians.
Source: cityam
