SNP Westminster Energy spokesperson Mike Weir MP has welcomed a report by the influential House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee which calls on the UK Government to follow the Scottish Government’s lead by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases by 42 per cent by 2020 – the target enshrined in law by the Scottish Climate Change Act, which was passed unanimously last year.

Mike Weir MP

Mr Weir said:

“Scotland has led the way in legislation to tackle climate change and so it is very welcome that this committee is now recommending that Westminster should catch up and cut emissions by 42 per cent by 2020.

“The Scottish Government has set the benchmark and, after the fiasco in Copenhagen, it is now more important than ever that other governments show the same leadership and ambition to tackle climate change. These recommendations show that Scotland can inspire other nations to equally ambitious action.

“Right across the developed world, we need a cohesive approach to tackling climate change and the UK Government must now act on these recommendations.

“Scotland is already making a big difference on climate change through developing the technology and capacity – in renewables, in carbon capture, and in energy efficiency measures – to reduce emissions and combat global warming.

“Our Climate Change Act is the most ambitious in the world, committing us to cut emissions by 42 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020 and by at least 80 per cent by 2050. Scotland has the natural resources – 25 per cent of Europe’s offshore wind and tidal resources, and 10 per cent of wave potential – and the ambition to achieve these targets at home and make our full contribution to global goals.

“Last week it was minimum pricing, this week it is climate change, the Scottish Government really is showing the way to Westminster.”

The full Commons Environmental Audit Committee report can be found at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmenvaud.htm

Mike Weir is the SNP Westminster Spokesperson for Trade and Industry, Energy and the Environment.

He was previously a councillor and Convenor of the General Purposes Committee of Angus Council.

Prior to his election in 2001, Mike was a solicitor and Partner for J&DG Shiell in Brechin.

Mike serves on the Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Committee at Westminster.

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Nick Clegg

Today the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg outlined the principles behind the party’s General Election Manifesto.

Last week’s phoney election campaign was a depressing experience.

The other parties managed to produce a greatest hits compilation of almost everything that has turned people off politics.

Airbrushed posters, meaningless slogans.
All set against the spectacle of the Government turning in on itself when the country is crying out for leadership.

But most depressing of all was that we learned that the Labour and Conservative parties have decided to run their election campaigns as if the world hadn’t changed:

Bombarding people with gimmicks and promises the country can no longer afford.
Treating people like children, as if winning elections is simply about who can provide the best shopping list of policies to buy off voter groups one by one.
Nobody believes a word of it.
Certainly not the voters and probably not even the politicians.

Playground politics.
Make-believe economics.

It really can’t go on like this.

I start this election year with a different assumption: voters know the game’s up for the old politics.

Shopping lists of pledges don’t wash any more. The politics of plenty are over.
After the expenses scandals most people will have no time for implausible promises and no interest in attempts to buy their favour with cheap trinkets.
But neither are they interested in relentless prophecies of doom and despair.

Faced with these new circumstances, I start from three simple beliefs:

First, treat voters like grown ups. People know that the country faces one of the greatest crises in our public finances in generations. They know that difficult decisions must be taken. So they want politicians to spell out their priorities, spell out the choices, rather than live in denial about the dilemmas we face.

Vince Cable and I have gone further than any other politicians in spelling out some of the steps which must now be taken to address the deficit and redirect money to our priorities: a 10% levy on banks profits as long as they are underwritten by the taxpayer; no to the like-for-like replacement of Trident; an end to tax credits to above average income families; cancelling the Government’s Baby Bond scheme; a £400 cap on all public sector pay increases.

These cuts and revenue raising measures are, in our view, unavoidable if we are to persuade people that we are serious – and we are deadly serious – about tackling Gordon Brown’s astronomical deficit, yet alone generate the resources we need for our social and political priorities.

Second, the importance of conviction. I have heard the claim that at a time of crisis in the Government’s finances, values and conviction must take a backseat to the immediate task of balancing the books.

I strongly disagree.

I do not believe it is possible to balance the books, yet alone transform British society, unless you are guided by strong values which guide you through the difficult choices which now must be made.

People will not support a Government which merely presents itself as a team of bean counting accountants – just as it will dismiss a Government living in denial about the enormity of the task ahead.

People want leadership that is realistic about the difficult decisions ahead, but optimistic about the way forward and guided by clear values.
The party which will win the argument in this year’s election campaign is the party which finds a way of marrying credibility and hope, restraint and generosity, discipline and compassion. That is what the Liberal Democrats will provide.

And, third, stick to the big ideas. The coming election will be no ordinary election. For once, the hype about the future of Britain being at stake is true.

Elections should be an opportunity for us all to ask: where next?
And for voters to choose.

As a country, we face acute social, environmental, economic and political problems.

The next Government will not only need to deal with the immediate crisis in the public finances.
It must reinvent our rotten political system, heal the social divisions which still thwart the hopes of millions, and put our economy on a new, more balanced, more sustainable footing.

None of this can be achieved if we merely tinker at the edges – the Labour and Conservative approach.
Talk of change is cheap.
Delivering big, permanent change is the real challenge.

We are putting our cards on the table now.
The heart of our manifesto will be short, direct and to the point.
We have stripped away everything that is not essential because the country cannot afford it.

We have isolated only two areas where we will make immediate, significant additional spending pledges: in education and in infrastructure investment.
And both will be funded from specific cuts in other areas of current Government spending.

No other party in British politics today has taken such a deliberate step to be open and credible with the British people about what we can and cannot afford.

And, yes, that means that some multi billion pound spending commitments we have promoted in the past – like new free childcare entitlements, a new citizen’s pension or free personal care – will no longer be firm commitments in our manifesto, but will be put on hold until they become affordable again.  And some of our other pledges such as the scrapping of tuition fees will have to be phased in over a longer period of time.

Our manifesto is based on a single insight: that the dreadful crises we have faced gives us the chance to reshape our country. And it is built on one simple and very British value: fairness.

Making this country fair will not be easy. There are huge vested interests standing in the way.

We will offer the British people the chance to vote for the four steps that are essential for a fairer Britain.

Only four. But they are four big changes – more significant than anything Labour or the Conservatives will offer at this election – that together will reshape the country we live in.

Fair taxes.
A new, fair start for all children at school.
A rebalanced, green economy.
And clean, open politics.

Four steps to a fairer Britain.

Why have we chosen these four priorities?
What do they say about the kind of society we are seeking to build?

As I set out in a pamphlet this Autumn, The Liberal Moment, I believe power, opportunity, good fortune is unfairly distributed in Britain.
I want fairness to be hardwired into every aspect of British life.

It’s just plain wrong that a child born in the poorest neighbourhood of Sheffield today will on average die fourteen years before a child born in the wealthiest neighbourhood down the road.
It’s just plain wrong that the City of London has been cossetted for years while first rate manufacturing companies have been ignored.
It’s just plain wrong that young people leaving school, College and University find it so difficult to get a foot on the property ladder, a steady job, and are saddled with crippling debt before their adult lives have even started.
It’s just plain wrong that our political system is the plaything of two old parties who do not represent the vast majority of people in Britain today.
It’s just plain wrong that a wealthy banker pays a lower rate of tax on his capital gains than his cleaner does on her monthly wages.

As a Liberal, I passionately believe in the potential of everyone to do well for themselves, their families, their communities – if only they are allowed and supported to do so.

That is why I have never shared the pessimism of the Labour party, a party still fixated with the idea that people’s lives can only be improved if someone in Whitehall tells them what to do.

That is why I have always rejected the lack of compassion and imagination of the Conservative Party, a party still fixated with giving tax breaks to the wealthy few rather than opportunity to the aspirant many.

My liberalism, then, is all about giving people the power to get ahead.
Fairness means opportunity is for everyone.
And that means that power must be dispersed, and never allowed to accumulate among elites – be they political, social or corporate – who inevitably exercise that power in their own interests.

It is the failure to disperse power that has made Britain unfair.
It was the failure to disperse the excess power accumulating in the City of London and the global financial markets that brought about the economic collapse.
And it was the failure to disperse political power that made politicians so isolated from reality that they created the expenses scandal.

The four priorities we will set out in our manifesto will put power back into people’s hands.
They will upend the status quo and dismantle, once and for all, the vested interests that have dominated our political and social life for too long.

They will make Britain the fair country I believe people want it to be.

Our tax plan would be the biggest tax reform in a generation.
It is needed because, in our society, money gives people power.
When money is unevenly distributed, so is power.
Of course, no tax system should try to create total equality of income.
But it can and should help redistribute some wealth – and power – to alleviate the worst excesses of inequality.
Under Labour’s unfair taxes, however, power is taken away from the poorest and given to the richest because the poorest 20% pay the highest proportion of their income in tax….
While the richest people and the biggest corporations can effectively pick and choose what taxes to pay.

That is why tax reform is top of our list.
Only when everyone pays their fair share, and no-one is crippled by their tax bill, will we have a fair society.
We will close loopholes for the richest and introduce a tax on mansions to fund tax cuts of £700 for everyone else.
No-one will pay income tax on the first £10,000 they earn, meaning tax freedom for millions of low earners and pensioners, while millions more get hundreds of pounds back in their pockets.
The biggest tax reform in generations.
A level of change you will never see proposed by the other parties.
Only the Liberal Democrats will make taxes permanently fair.

Next: we will give every child the fair start they deserve by reducing class sizes and increasing one to one tuition in our schools.
Nothing is more important in dispersing power and delivering opportunities to people of every background than education, especially education when children are very young.

As a report I commissioned on social mobility from Martin Narey in 2008 concluded, bright but poor children are still being left behind in our school system.
Social disadvantage is reflected in class results from an early age.

Countless young boys and girls are falling behind at school not because of a lack of potential, but because of the circumstances of their birth.
This is not only unfair on them – it blights the education of the whole class when some pupils start falling behind the rest and the class is unable to move forward as one.
Any teacher, any parent of young children, knows that a successful school with happy, fulfilled children depends on children studying happily together rather than pulling apart.

That is why, following on directly from Martin’s conclusions, we are devoting significant new resources to our schools, freed up by taking above average income families out of the tax credit system.
The money will be targeted directly at the most deprived children.
We know for a fact this is the only way to make society fair.
The only way to ensure, over the long term, that every child has opportunities, no matter their background, their home town or their parent’s bank balance.

We’ll be putting more money, £2.5 billion, into schools to pay for more teachers, better discipline and catch-up classes.
Cutting class sizes so children get the individual attention they need to thrive.
Schools receiving an average of £2,500 extra per pupil for each of the million most deprived children in the country they teach.

Of course, an education is little use if there’s nothing for you to do once you leave school or college.
So the third building block of a fair society is economic opportunity.

There are nearly 100,000 square miles in Britain.
For the last thirty years, politicians have been obsessed with just one of them: the City of London.

We will never have a fair society while this is allowed to continue.
The big, permanent change we offer is a shift away from the traditional over-reliance on the City of London and on financial services.
We will usher in a new era where growth is enabled in every part of Britain.
And we place a new emphasis on infrastructure, on people, and on green technology.
Growth that lasts.

Our vision is that, 10 years from now, our economy will be very different from the one we have today. Instead of bias towards the city, there will be balance. Instead of short-term fixes, we will seek growth that lasts.
Thriving local and regional banks, tied into their communities, with real knowledge of their customers, instead of the faceless global leviathans of the international markets.
Diverse, thriving town centres each with their own identity instead of identikit high streets dominated by global retailers.
Reliable transport infrastructure so people can get to work without it costing a fortune or costing the planet.
Wealthy people encouraged to channel their money into supporting local entrepreneurs instead of ferreting it away in offshore accounts.
Each community, home, and office generating its own power and heat locally, instead of reliant on the centralised, polluting energy grid.

None of that will happen under any party other than the Liberal Democrats.
Labour and the Conservatives want to prop up the City, because finance is the only kind of prosperity they understand.
If that is allowed to happen, the only thing that is certain is that we will find ourselves facing the same problems all over again in years to come.
We are the only party that doesn’t just want to rebuild the economy – we want to change it permanently so that we have growth that lasts.

The final change is the one that makes the others possible.
Political reform.
The fair society we seek to build will not be possible without it.
Our corrupt politics is not capable of driving through change.
It exists to block it, to protect the status quo and maintain the vested interests of an old elite.

Only a party which will really disperse power, breaking open the sorry, stale system of governance, rebuilding local government, and embracing fair votes for every level of election can reinvigorate our democracy.
From the smallest parish council to the corridors of Westminster, we have to create a politics that opens its doors to every citizen.
A politics that is open, transparent, and local, so that the power to push through change is in the hands of everyone.

That is why we will get big money and corrupt donors out of politics altogether.
Reduce the number of MPs by 150.
Devolve power over the police and NHS to local communities.
Change the voting system to abolish safe seats and make every vote count.
And give constituents the right to sack corrupt MPs.

Fair taxes.
A new, fair start for all children at school.
A rebalanced, green economy.
And clean, open politics.

Four steps to real change.
Four steps to a fairer Britain.

The coming months are a crucial time for politics.
We will be using those months to focus on these four priorities.
Unveiling, step by step, more details.
How the changes will work in practice.
How they will affect people.
And why they are needed for a fairer Britain.

So I’m putting our cards on the table.
David Cameron and Gordon Brown are playing the politics of the airbrush and the focus group.
One doesn’t know what he believes. The other doesn’t know what to do with the power he clings to so desperately.

I know what I believe.
I am clear about the real changes a new Government must bring about.

I believe the country wants something different.
The Liberal Democrats are different.
We offer credibility where it’s needed.
And hope for our common future.

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Labour’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson have launched the government’s growth strategy.

Building on the action taken over the last year in supporting the economy through the global downturn, the strategy sets out how Britain will take advantage of the opportunities open to the country.

Globalisation, technological change, climate change, natural resource pressure and demographics that are radically changing the world in which our businesses and people compete mean that government has to play an active role.

Labour is committed to playing this active role and driving, not just the recovery, but long-term sustainable growth – in contrast to the Conservatives’ plans for choking off the recovery and delivering a decade of low growth and austerity.

Labour’s Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson, said:

“This plan is about a renewed politics of production.  The genius of science and research. The dynamism of personal enterprise. The drive of a skilled and confident workforce. Access to finance on the right terms for long term growth. A world class infrastructure. And strategic action from government to invest in all these things.

“These simple, powerful capabilities are the building blocks of our future growth. They stress the importance of recognizing that industrial competitiveness is not something that emerges out of the free market ether.

“The £70M funding we’re announcing today for state of the art manufacturing research centres shows what we can do to realise our potential.”

The strategy includes:

* New Innovative Manufacturing Research Centres as part of a new £70M initiative to develop growth in UK manufacturing

* A new UK Life Sciences Super Cluster to bring industry together with the UK’s leading researchers and clinicians to drive innovation in early stage drug and medical technology development.

* A goal to improve our position in the World Bank rankings for “Ease of Doing Business” from 5th place to 4th, ahead of the USA and make us first in G20, plus initiatives to help us meet that target.

* The UK Borders Agency will build new additional flexibility in the points based immigration system to create a simpler way for employers to bring in non-EEA interns and trainees.

* Small Business Research Initiative – competitions to be launched early 2010 will improve the energy efficiency of public buildings, working with DECC and to develop Ultra Efficient Lighting solutions for domestic use, in conjunction with DEFRA.

* £30m of new Technology Strategy Board investments to stimulate business innovation in those areas which offer the greatest scope for boosting UK growth and productivity.
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A transcript of the Prime Minister’s podcast on the Pre-Budget Report, recorded on 5 December 2009.

All our lives are being transformed by the digital revolution.

For many the internet and mobile phones are now seen as indispensible as electricity, gas and water.

And the wealth of information instantly available – literally at our fingertips – is giving you enormous power over the choices you make for you and your families. Whether it is where to do the weekly shop; which utility company to use; or who insures your car.

And in this new world, you rightly want a bigger say and more accountability in all the decisions that affect you.

Rightly, you also demand more control over public services – and the same level, the high standards, that you expect as consumers on the high street.

And that is why this government will ensure that each citizen has new guarantees and new rights: for example the personal guarantee that you will see a cancer specialist within two weeks and the guarantee that your son or daughter will have one-to-one tuition if they need it in English and Maths.

And in these challenging times it is vital that we protect those front line services which we all pay for, which we all value, and on which we all rely.

We value them because they are always there to teach our children; look after us when we are sick; and protect us from harm. They are part of our everyday lives but we should never take them for granted.

This is not a time for reckless experiments. We will harness the power of technology to further improve our hospitals, schools and police forces at the front line.

But the power of technology also allows us to secure better value for money. Already some GPs send text messages to remind people of upcoming appointments. This is helping the NHS save a substantial amount of the £600 million annual cost of missed appointments.

We are committed to giving parents of secondary school pupils guaranteed online access so they can see what their child is learning and how they are getting on – saving the cost of expensive materials.

There’s evidence to show that using online instead of sending paper through the post can save councils £12 a time; and using it instead of the phone up can save up to £3.30 a time.

Switching services online also frees up more staff to provide personal support and advice – including face-to-face, where it is most needed.

The opportunities for enhanced services and better value for money are enormous. So over the next five years we will make as many services as we can available to you online. And this has the potential to save at least £400 million a year.

It all means that you get a better service and the costs are kept down – so you win as taxpayers and users of public services.

And we are going to help more people to get online. There are now 6,000 public places with internet access in England, including every library, where there are more than 30,000 terminals, many community and adult education centres; and even some pubs.

But clearly some people are still excluded. So we will reach out particularly to mothers, older people, the unemployed and those who lack skills to ensure that they can use all the facilities that will be available. The savings we will make in this way are considerable but we will also need to do more.

And in the pre-budget report this week we will tell you how we will make the further savings needed to protect our front line services; cut the budget deficit and go for growth.

As always, our decisions will reflect our deepest values of fairness and responsibility. That is why we have raised the top rate of tax on those earning in excess of £150,000 in order to pay down the deficit and contribute to public services.

We are proud of what we have achieved over the past 12 years. And we are proud of the real help we’ve given people over the past 12 months.

But we will not sit back. And next week we will set out our bold and radical plans for ensuring a fairer, prosperous and sustainable future for Britain.

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Conservatives winning again and winning across Scotland

Pictured: Struan Stevenson MEP, David Cameron – Conservative Party Leader, Annabel Goldie Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party Leader

Annabel Goldie MSP, Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party Leader, said:

“The European election results show we would win seats like East Renfrewshire; Dumfries & Galloway; Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale; Edinburgh South; Berwickshire Roxburgh & Selkirk and West Aberdeen & Kincardine. We are also on course to win Alistair Darling’s seat in Edinburgh South West.

“All over Scotland we are challenging for seats, and all over Scotland people are realising that the only way of getting rid of this tired and failing Labour Government is to vote for the Conservatives. A vote for any other party at Westminster could allow Labour in by the back door.

“I am delighted at our success and my message to Gordon Brown is call the election now and let the people have their say.”

Notes

Struan Stevenson Biography:

Born
Ballantrae, Scotland – 1948

Married to Pat with two children, Ryan and Gregor.

Education
Cambusdoon Preparatory Schol, Ayr

Strathallan School, Forgandenny, Perthshire

West of Scotland Agricultural College Dip.Ag

Honorary Doctor of Science at the State Medical Academy – Kazakhstan (2000)

Career
1968-2004 Director J & R. Stevenson Ltd (farming & tourism)

1986-1990 Director Demarco Gallery (Edinburgh)

1992-1994 Director Saferworld (foreign affairs & defence Think Tank)

1994- 1999 Director PS Communication Consultants Ltd (government relations, media relations, PR)

Politics
1970 -1974 Girvan District Council

1974 -1992 Kyle & Carrick District Council

1986 -1988 Leader of the Administration KCDC

1986 -1988 Conservative Group Leader – COSLA

1987 – PPC – Carrick, Cumnock & Doon Valley

1992 – PPC Edinburgh South

1997 – PPC Dumfries

1992 -1997 Chairman Scottish Conservative Parliamentary Candidates Association

1992 -1997- Chair Scottish Conservative Arts & Heritage Committee

1992 -1997 Scottish Tory Agriculture Spokesman

1997 -1998 Scottish Conservative Spokesman on Environment, Transport, Media, Arts, Heritage and Tourism

1998 – Candidate – N.E.Scotland Euro By-election

1998 – Chairman Tuesday Club

1999 – Elected MEP for Scotland

1999 – Front Bench Spokesman on Fisheries

1999 – Front Bench Spokesman on Scottish Farming

2002-2004 – President EP Fisheries Committee

2004 – EP Spokesperson on Fisheries

2004 – EP Deputy Spokesman on Agriculture

2005 – Vice President EPP-ED Ruling Group of 267 MEPs

2005 – Chairman of ED Group of 40 MEPs

Other interests and hobbies
Contemporary art, music, theatre, opera, poetry.

Hill walking and Gun Dogs.

Current Appointments:
Member of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee
Member of the Delegation to the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee
Member of the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly
Substitute Member of the European Parliament Agriculture Committee
Substitute Member of the Delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China

General
A well known political activist and campaigner of many years’ standing, Struan knocked Labour into third place in the North East Scotland European by-election in November 1998 then went on to top the Tory Euro Candidates List, winning one of the eight Scottish seats in the European Parliament in the June 1999 Euro elections . He was elected President of the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament in January 2002 and was re-elected to the European Parliament in June 2004 when he was appointed Conservative Front-Bench Spokesman on Fisheries and Deputy Spokesman on Agriculture. In February 2005 he was elected Vice President of the ruling EPP-ED Group of 267 MEPs and Chairman of the ED Group of 40 MEPs.

Struan is a well-known broadcaster and author of frequent feature articles in the press. He has campaigned widely to attract aid for the victims of the Soviet nuclear testing programme in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan where he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate and the Freedom of the City of Semipalatinsk for his work. In 2004 he won a $50,000 prize for his entry in an International Essay Competition sponsored by the US-based John Templeton Foundation, for a feature about the suffering of the people of Semipalatinsk. He donated the entire $50,000 to Mercy Corps Scotland to assist with their work in Semipalatinsk. He has also fought to ban the importation of cat and dog fur into the EU, from Asia, and to stop the one billion Euro annual subsidies to EU tobacco growers.

Struan is married to Pat, an editor with BBC Radio and has two sons – Ryan, who graduated in politics from Newcastle University and works for Newsbase, a Scottish-based international e-media company and Gregor, who graduated in English and Film Studies at Glasgow University in 2002 and is a creative writer with a major Scottish advertising agency.

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The London Summit will take place against the backdrop of exceptionally challenging economic circumstances. But, just as after the Second World War visionary leaders laid the groundwork for 30 years of prosperity and growth, built on international economic cooperation, this crisis is also an opportunity.

The world’s leading economies can come together and lay the foundations not just for a sustainable economic recovery, but also for a genuinely new era of international economic partnership – a global deal, in which all countries have a part to play and all will see the benefits.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says
“At the G20 we will be discussing ideas to lead the world from recession to recovery, and I want people to feel not just that they have a stake in those discussions, but that they also have a say”.

Government web link:
So tell us what you want to say to the G20 world leaders before the summit and we’ll make sure we pass on as many of your comments as possible.

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The Federal Reserve Board last Wednesday announced its approval of the application and notices under sections 3 and 4 of the Bank Holding
Company Act by GMAC LLC and IB Finance Holding Company, LLC, both of Detroit, Michigan, to become bank holding companies on conversion of GMAC Bank, a Utah industrial loan company, to a commercial bank and to retain certain nonbanking subsidiaries.

Attached is the Order relating to this action.

Attachment (74 KB PDF)

GMAC is reported to be seemingly 51% owned by equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, owner of Chrysler; the rest is owned by General Motors.

The Detroit-based company already has a banking unit which offers certificates of deposit and online savings accounts, but becoming a bank holding company makes it eligible for government support including guarantees of new debt it issues. As a bank, it could also apply for billions of dollars of capital under the $700 billion federal bank rescue plan.

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Banks continue to put their own spin on matters affecting millions of residents and business owners and indicate little intention of renewing even a semblance of lending required to prevent unemployment numbers going through the roof.

Little comfort for financial markets and property owners and those striving to get on the property ladder.

Levels of mortgage lending in 2009 is likely to remain below 2007 levels, and is more likelt to be around 2008 levels. This is despite government pressure on banks to match last year’s lending volumes.

That was the message from Michael Coogan, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, at the CML’s annual conference yesterday.

“Can we reach 2007 levels of lending next year as the government has insisted? The simple answer is no,” Coogan said.

He added: “In fact, unless government takes further targeted action to help market participants, we will see a worsening of the picture next year compared to this. I would therefore not disagree today with Sir James Crosby’s analysis or prognosis in his report.

“However, the CML is not yet in a position to confirm its 2009 lending forecasts, as we continue to review the impact of the Pre-Budget report on future prospects.

“A good outcome next year in my view would be if we had lending at levels seen in 2008, but bearing in mind we will be in a recession, and reflecting on the figures I mentioned from the 1990s, this would be a real challenge.”

He explained that a scarcity of bank funding and tighter consumer credit conditions would continue to have a major bearing on loan growth in 2009.

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