		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="2">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/lib-dem-pins-quit-blame-on-cameron.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Lord Oakeshott stepped down from his role as Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/min-lib-dem-pins-quit-blame-on-cameron.jpg" alt="Lord Oakeshott stepped down from his role as Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman"/></a></p>
<p>The senior Liberal Democrat who quit over the Government&#8217;s deal with the banks has stepped up his attack, pinning the blame personally on David Cameron for a &#8220;weak, waffly&#8221; agreement.</p>
<p>Lord Oakeshott, who spoke for the Lib Dems on Treasury matters in the Lords, said the Prime Minister had undermined the Government&#8217;s negotiating position by signalling his need for a deal.</p>
<p>He dismissed the commitment by the &#8220;big four&#8221; banks in the so-called Project Merlin negotiations to increase lending to small and medium businesses, saying that it had left a &#8220;vast amount of wriggle room&#8221;.</p>
<p>It was announced on Wednesday night that Lord Oakeshott was stepping down as a frontbench spokesman &#8220;by mutual consent&#8221; after he tore into the Treasury for its &#8220;arrogance and incompetence&#8221;, saying they &#8220;couldn&#8217;t negotiate their way out of a paper bag&#8221;.</p>
<p>But later the peer &#8211; seen as a close ally of Business Secretary Vince Cable &#8211; turned his fire on Mr Cameron, blaming his negotiating stance for what he said was &#8220;a very soft deal&#8221; with the banks.</p>
<p>&#8220;The problem with this deal was the Government sent out all the wrong messages &#8211; particularly David Cameron, but also the Treasury &#8211; that we had to do a deal with them,&#8221; he told BBC Radio 4&#8217;s Today programme.</p>
<p>&#8220;I can tell you the only way you get a good deal from banks is if they don&#8217;t think you&#8217;ve got to do a deal.&#8221;</p>
<p>He dismissed a key plank of the agreement which is supposed to see the banks increase the flow of credit to cash-starved firms.</p>
<p>&#8220;That is not a commitment at all. That&#8217;s weak, waffly gross lending aspiration with vast wriggle room. There&#8217;s no commitment there,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>His latest attack will embarrass Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, while again highlighting the tensions within the coalition on a day when 88 Lib Dem council chiefs hit out over the scale and pace of Government spending cuts.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-69e2d775d9687">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-69e2d775d9687',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
