Don Foster comments on Occupy Bath

I believe Occupy Bath is meeting this Saturday to discuss and decide upon the future of the protest. Although I have received no formal invite to the meeting, I would still have liked to have attended. Unfortunately I already have other engagements in Bath which prevent me from doing so. I am happy to continue talking with the protestors and looking for common ground on which to work.

There are two aspects of what they are saying with which I agree; the need to continue to take further steps to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and the need to make further changes to our banking system.

On the first, the government has already taken steps in the right direction (such as raising the tax threshold, taking nearly 1million of the lowest paid out of paying any tax, and providing extra funds through the Pupil Premium for schools to help the education of the least well off) but still more needs to be done. And, I remain convinced that there should be no removal, at this stage, of the 50% tax rate (unless it is replaced with an alternative which is equally targeted at the better off). There are also some aspects of the benefits system that I also want changed. For example, having been the first MP to raise concern about the proposal to abolish the mobility component of DLA for people in care homes, I am continuing to lobby government to ensure that it is dropped.

On the second, we have introduced the Banking Levy, which is significantly higher than that of the previous government, and have made some reforms to the “bonus” arrangements. But we still need to move to a situation where the “high street lending” role of banks is separated from their “casino” activities. While we clearly need to support the “high street lending” activities, I see no reason why the government (and, therefore, tax payers) should bail out banks that fail in their casino activities. And, while some progress has been made in getting the banks to lend more to SMEs especially, more needs to be done.