Mark Garnier, Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest has blasted bank representatives for not bothering to attend a business group meeting held at Gainsborough House hotel last Friday. Business leaders attended the Severn Valley Business Group expo last week, only to discover that none of the banks had responded to invites to attend.

The policy chief from the Federation of Small Businesses, Andrew Cave addressed 61 business leaders that the government needed to do much more to aid small businesses in the form of tax breaks. He also called for a reduction in red tape to decrease the burden of administration for businesses. Incentives are required to encourage growth of businesses and creation of jobs.

Banks were also called on by Cave to increase lending to small and medium businesses, pointing out that a third of businesses who were members of FSB, had failed to secure new business as a result of being turned down for a business loan by the bank. However, none of the banks had sent representatives to the expo to respond. Wyre Forest MP, Mark Garnier said:

“The fact no one from the banks turned up was pathetic and it’s not good enough. I will be writing to branches locally about it.”

Cave pointed out that the banks needed to start communicating with businesses to discover what they needed. As banks increasingly refuse to authorise loans to businesses, it has an effect on other areas of lending. The FSB support the reorganisation of the banking system in the UK.

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