This week Question time was in Plymouth and as a first time voter, the most alarming story of the week concerned the ever talked about banker’s bonuses and in particular those of Stephen Hester’s.
What struck me as a first time voter, was how unified the panel seemed to be, all taking a strong view against Hester’s salary and bonus. It was however, David Lammy and Jeremy Browne who put forward the strongest cases against Hester.
Lammy immediately set a somewhat aggressive tone by saying ‘ This is a man who already has a salary of 1.2million, which then gets topped up taking it over 2 million – and we own this bank’. He ultimately condemned David Cameron’s dealing of the situation, hinting that he had good talk, but had simply done nothing about these excessive bonuses. For Hester to get a 900,000-pound top up on his salary is simply a disgrace, and is something which needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Jermemy Browne approached the topic from a different angle, and stated that he would love to see people starting up businesses, and creating wealth/jobs. If Hester did this, and made a lot of money he would have no problem. However, he reiterated that we must remember he is working for RBS, a company which is 5/6 owned by the taxpayer, and therefore Hester should act/think more like a public servant. He made the point that what Hester gets paid in 3 days, is what a solider in Afghanistan gets paid a year.
Did Stephen Hester really have to take this ridiculous bonus, or should it simply have been a matter of ‘thanks but no thanks’? Action is most definitely needed from Cameron in the coming weeks to show the coalition won’t stand for these overly excessive banker’s bonus’s.
No comments:
Post a Comment