British Business Bank blasted for Covid ‘cock-ups’
The British Business Bank has been accused of presiding over “one of the most colossal cock-ups in recent government management” in handling the Covid loan scheme.
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“But the analogy I use there is if I picked you up on the side of the road and you’d had a heart attack and got you into an ambulance and I say to the ambulance driver, get to the hospital now. I don’t expect the ambulance driver to drive through a bus stop and kill half the people on the way to the hospital. That is the way it seems to have been interpreted."
I like Lord Agnew more with every utterance (and he outdoes me with analogies)!
BTW, Richard, I presume the fifth heading should read "BBB defends role in BBL" (not BBL defends role in BBL)?
I hate to be a pedant, but shouldn't it be "A Sliver of Time"?
Slither carries a somewhat different meaning.
I watched Lord Agnew in this committee hearing and he's absolutely great. A real breath of fresh air and all that.
What's telling is the shock & surprise of the MPs listening to his brutally honest damning evidence, whereas none of us here are in the least bit surprised by any of it of course (if anything things are likely to be far worse than he says), which shows how in the dark MPs are generally about Government & Civil Service gross incompetence.
I do agree with a lot of the criticism but hindsight is wonderful. Back then we were in a very chaotic spot.
CBILS loans were simply taking far too long to get in place.
BBL's were a crucial lifeline to a lot of businesses who used them sensibly, without which many would probably have gone.
At the time everyone screamed "this is nuts" on here.
We were all amazed at the lack of any sorts of basic controls, its not really hindsight, its a complete lack of business acumen by Rishi and his gang
As the smoke clears (a little) some of it is mind-blowing.
See last issue (#1568) of P Eye - article headed 'Kingdom of cheats':
The supposed retailer company is lodged as dormant at Co House. However, owner bought 21 off-the-shelf companies (mostly after start of Covid), but they have individually somehow got exactly £50k BBLs ... despite at least 7 of them having 'zero activity' (before or since)!
No, you are wrong (you've clearly not watched his evidence). Lord Agnew addresses that very counter-argument and comprehensively dismisses it as a smokescreen for the utter incompetence.
I am not allowed an opinion? Free speech and all that.
I said I agree with a lot of it but also at the time there was huge criticism that the CBILS loans were too slow and cumbersome and some businesses would not have got through without a quick source of finance in the form of a BBL.
The principle of the BBL's, at a time of huge uncertainty, was sensible but there are always those who take advantage and abuse the system.
The example of someone setting up 21 Co's, each would have had no trading record. 25% loan of £0 turnover is £0. This sort of abuse should have been easy for the banks to prevent.
I am not allowed an opinion? Free speech and all that.
I said I agree with a lot of it but also at the time there was huge criticism that the CBILS loans were too slow and cumbersome and some businesses would not have got through without a quick source of finance in the form of a BBL.
The principle of the BBL's, at a time of huge uncertainty, was sensible but there are always those who take advantage and abuse the system.
The example of someone setting up 21 Co's, each would have had no trading record. 25% loan of £0 turnover is £0. This sort of abuse should have been easy for the banks to prevent.
Did I say you were not allowed an opinion? I am also allowed an opinion, which is that you're wrong for the above reasons. If you disagree please tell us, with proper evidence (at least equal in weight to Lord Agnew's in his counter-argument rather than typical Aweb non-expert, hand waiving opinion/arguments) why Lord Agnew is wrong.
But I didn't say that you were wrong. Of course you are allowed an opinion, as am I, without you saying I am wrong.
I really don't disagree with the general content of the article itself.
I just made the point that there is also the context to consider, it was a very scary time, like no other I can recall.
You said that was "wrong".
It wasn't wrong.
The scheme was rushed out, which has caused problems. However on the flip side, it did mean that a lot of 'genuine' businesses survived that otherwise may have been forced to close, with all of the consequences that brings.
A lot of those genuine loans will get repaid. Those business owners will hopefully flourish, employ lots of people and pay lots of taxes.
The banks have processes in place to lend money in normal times, to avoid high levels of bad debt / fraud / etc. However, in Covid times, those processes were too slow.
I recall when the Government got involved in bank lending policy in @ 2008 - 2010 with EFG loans. A lot of money was lent then with a 'government guarantee' which was not repaid.
It is easy to just bash the banks again.
You just don't get it do you.
"Lord Agnew, who gave evidence to the Treasury Committee last month, said: “Only a couple of extra days were needed for proper checks to be carried out.”"
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1590383/fraudulent-coronavirus-l...
That's my very simple point here. What you say is totally irrelevant to that.
When you implement any system whatever the urgency you still need to introduce basic checks like AML and turnover. How on earth this can be missed is beyond me. If I was running an organisation and my employees developed such a system they all will get fired without hesitation as the errors were so elementary.
Whats hurts most so many people take advantage and got money for 50K free while others struggle e.g employees. What is even more utterly annoying and totally unacceptable is noone is even trying to recover the money. All I keep hear is that directors just get disqualified what kind of punishment is that.
Criminal charges should be brought in but who can be actually bothered when there are hundred of thousands of people who have exploited this loophole and they just want a easy life and bury their hand in the sand.
Based on this incompetence by HM Gov
I would guess that sanctions against Russia will be a completely pointless excercise
The BBB are a very convenient scapegoat, being as woefully unfit for purpose as they are, however let's not forget that when the scheme first started, businesses were being checked thoroughly and the pressure came direct from the Treasury and the government to stop doing so many checks and get the money out fast.
By all means lambast the BBB for their failures so that further massive [***] ups can be avoided, but let's not let the rest of them off the hook. It's our money they've taken and thrown away.
edit: strange how you can have c o c k ups in the headline but I'm not allowed to type it.
It comes as no surprise to many, do they need a committee to look into this? They will now make an opportunity to waste more tax payer’s money on investigating and finger pointing.
Even a new born baby could tell them that this BBL handout does not sound right.
As I understand it, this isn't a separate enquiry with all the costs that would involve; it is a side enquiry into a particular matter by a standing committee.