Senior Tory presses for UK final say on Euro regulation
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Conservative MP Peter Lilley is urging European commissioner for internal markets and services Michel Barnier to give the UK the final say on EU financial services regulation and directives.
Lilley, chair of the joint committee on the draft Financial Services Bill, met with Barnier (pictured) this week to press for the UK to get the deciding vote. Currently, European regulations are passed with a qualified majority vote across member states.
Lilley says: “Given that the overwhelming bulk of financial services Europe-wide is focused in London, it is right that we try and get an understanding from Europe that regulations affecting financial services cannot be made unless we consent. It is silly to hand over regulation to people who have limited experience and less knowledge about how the industry operates, therefore the final voice should be the UK’s.”
The Financial Services Bill, published last week, backs the joint committee’s call for a committee made up of the FCA, the PRA and the Bank of England to co-ordinate UK lobbying efforts in Europe and internationally.
Cicero Consulting Brussels analyst Tim Gieles says if the UK wants more influence on European financial services legislation it should look to build alliances with countries that have a similar financial services market, such as the Netherlands.
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Readers' comments (8)
Strummerville | 3 Feb 2012 9:36 am
You've got to admire LIlley for his chutzpah!
Does he not think that the other 26 nations might point to the wonderful job the FSA has done in regulating UK financial services and say 'not bloody likely'...??
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Peter Taylor | 3 Feb 2012 9:48 am
"It's silly to hand over regulation to people who have limited experience...etc." However, that's exactly what we did in the UK and the prat at the top now says he didn,t want the job but has accepted a new role doing the same. They openly admitted they didn't know what they were doing with the banks but we'll carry on regardless. I've no doubt the UK can point to regulatory success in the shape of stakeholder, CAT standards,MAS, decision trees, the destruction of the insurance industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs etc. etc. etc.
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Ned Naylor | 3 Feb 2012 9:48 am
WOT!!
Our regulator isn't up to the job?
No change there then!
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Anonymous | 3 Feb 2012 9:50 am
"It is silly to hand over regulation to people who have limited experience and less knowledge about how the industry operates"
Enough said.
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Anonymous | 3 Feb 2012 10:29 am
Lilley is right - but not because we know better - simply because we ought to put a stop to the EU's relentless regulatory/legislative creep which is gradually taking away our right/ability to make our own decisions - both as a nation and as individuals.
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Julian Stevens | 3 Feb 2012 10:57 am
Can anybody articulate exactly what benefits the UK derives from having shackled itself to the whims of the Brussels autocracy? A Cost:Benefits Analysis, perhaps?
I think the UK shoulkd just say You row your boat and we'll row ours, thanks very much ~ and save several kings' ransoms in the process.
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John Harding | 3 Feb 2012 11:41 am
If the French can claim 'strategic national interest' as the reason for preventing the takeover of a dairy products company by a non-French rival then we can surely claim the same for the protection of a whole industry.
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Toddy | 3 Feb 2012 12:08 pm
I thougth we had opted out after David Carmeron's veto some weeks ago to protect UK financial services.
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