HBOS CASE PUT TO NATIONAL AUDIENCE

HBOS CASE PUT TO NATIONAL AUDIENCE

Alex Neil MSP and Jim Spowart, founder of Intelligent Finance, are to appear on Channel Four this evening (Friday) to present their case to HBOS shareholders ahead of their AGM in Birmingham next week.

The Political Slot will be on Channel Four at 1930 this evening and will feature Mr Neil and Mr Spowart arguing why HBOS shareholders should vote down the proposed takeover by Lloyds TSB on the 12th.

Commenting Mr Neil said:

“We will reach a wide audience with this broadcast and I hope HBOS shareholders will take note of the points we put across.

“They are going to have a crucial say in the future of tens of thousands of jobs up and down the UK, in Scotland and England. Their votes will have a major impact on the UK and Scottish economies which ever way they vote.”

A transcript of tonight’s Political Slot is below

Alex Neil MSP: Next week on the 12th of December the share holders of Halifax bank of Scotland will meet to decide weather to accept a takeover bid from Lloyds TSB. I hope the share holders will turn down the take over bid for 3 reasons,

* first of all it’s a bad deal for share holders, Lloyds TSB wouldn’t put an additional penny into Halifax bank of Scotland
* Secondly up to 40,000 people working for these two banks will loose there jobs unnecessarily.
* And finally it’s a bad deal for customers; if this monopoly is created then the cost of mortgages to everybody throughout the UK will rocket so I hope this takeover does not go ahead.

Jim Spowart (Founder of Intelligent Finance): Well this is not a good deal for share holders in my view and it’s not good for staff nor is good for the consumer. We have changed competition laws and that’s a big issue here. I honestly believe that there is another option or other options here that can be considered especially after the recapitalization by the government and I don’t think that they have been given a fair hearing and that’s why I don’t think this should go ahead.

Alex Neil MSP: And you’ve been a big supporter of union between Scotland and England. What impact do you think this vote if the takeover goes ahead will have on the union between Scotland and England

Jim Spowart: Well I think it will take some 18 months to 2 years for this to unravel should this merger go ahead. I think the redundancies will be quite large and I think Scotland will be seriously impacted by and as a result of this the merger and I do think it’s a definitive moment for the union. I think uh I don’t think Gordon Brown’s doesn’t probably recognize at this stage he’s been so determined to push this merger through which is not necessary. And I think the people of Scotland not just this moment in time but say 18 months or longer or 2 years time will start to take stock and say perhaps some of these senior bankers were right this wasn’t necessary.

Alex Neil MSP: Gordon Brown says this is the only deal on the table but that’s not true. The other alternative is to keep HBOS as an independent bank, and that way we can save 40,000 jobs up and down the UK. You know only one quarter of the share holders are needed to make sure that this deal doesn’t go ahead I hope enough of them vote against it next week, to put a stop to this takeover to save the 40,000 jobs and to allow HBOS to remain an independent bank. So that we can all get a better deal.