Chancellor Alistair Darling has hit back at critics of the Government's handling of Northern Rock, claiming the beleaguered lender would have gone under without intervention.
Darling says the knock-on consequences for the banking system, other financial institutions and for Britain as a whole had Northern Rock went bust would have been “extremely damaging”. “This was a bank that depended on being able to raise billions of pounds on the money market. When that was no longer possible, we had a choice,” Darling says. “That is why I authorised the Bank of England to provide support. “At the time that intervention was widely supported, even by some who now imply that it was the wrong thing to do and who are not prepared to accept the consequences of that support.”...
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