Lending decisions made by individual banks are "infinitely more important" than the fiscal stimulus unveiled by the Government, according to Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable.
Speaking at today's Council of Mortgage Lenders' annual conference, Cable said the Government had rightly received praise for its recapitalisation programme, but accused it of being "utterly confused" about how to use the stake it now has in the banking system. He added: "At the present time banks and the people who run them are being instructed to do several utterly contradicting things. "They are being told they must lend more, but are also being told they must lend less by the FSA which is telling them to hold more reserves. "They are being told by the Government they must lend less ...
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