GORDON BROWN IN DENIAL ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY FOR RECESSION.

GORDON BROWN IN DENIAL ABOUT RESPONSIBILITY FOR RECESSION.

SNP LIST EVIDENCE ON BROWN’S ROLE IN FINANCIAL CRISIS.

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s speech today about the regulation of the financial industry SNP Treasury Spokesperson, Stewart Hosie MP said the Prime Minister was in denial about his own responsibility for overseeing the system of regulation that led to the crisis.

Mr Hosie listed the growing evidence which linked the Prime Minister to the lax system that led to the crisis which has revealed:

* Admissions by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) Chairman, Lord Turner, that “the whole system was risky” and “they didn’t focus enough”

* The Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report 2007 which shows the UK Government and the Bank wilfully ignored warnings in the run up to the crisis

* Evidence from the FSA that Brown put political pressure on them not to question banks on risky practices

* The resignation of Sir James Crosby – one of the Prime Minister’s key advisors - followed revelations that when he was chief executive of bank HBOS he sacked a whistleblower who warned that banks were heading for disaster

“ That the Prime Minister knew about Icelandic banks months before the UK Government took any action - and which is now seen as being so heavy handed it precipitated an even more rapid collapse.

Commenting, Mr Hosie said:

“Gordon Brown is in total denial about his own culpability for this crisis. He is responsible for setting up the failed tripartite regulation system, he has borrowed beyond the UK’s means and he even appointed advisors like Sir James Crosby and Fred Goodwin.

“His words ring hollow if he wants people punished. What punishment does he think he deserves?

“Under Mr Brown’s watch the FSA, the Bank of England and the London Treasury disregarded the fatal flaws in the banking system.

“However much he spins the fact remains that the buck stopped with Gordon Brown and he is as culpable for the crisis we find ourselves in as anyone else. The evidence is overwhelming and no amount of denial can hide that.

“This whole fiasco is typified by a failure to respond responsibly to risk. The blame lies squarely at the door of 10 Downing Street – and with Culpability Brown.”