Whenever a new government takes office, people with all sorts of different interests and concerns look to see how its new policies will develop in practice. A cynic may wonder which manifesto pledges will truly be honoured and what hidden surprises may be in store, while others may look closely to see what the actual fine details are.
The uncertainty may have been much greater this time in view of the unusual circumstances of a coalition, where the policy programme is a mix of horse trading and compromise in many areas. However, as regards credit policy, a speech by financial secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban may have brought much clarity and has been welcomed by the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (Abcul).
Mr Hoban was speaking at a House of Commons reception hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Credit Unions, at which he made clear the government is fully committed to credit unions as part of its intention to make the consumer credit sector more diverse, something that could also affect credit card provision.
He said: "This government believes that strong credit unions will greatly enrich British society, so it is in our interest to do whatever we can to help the credit union movement to prosper."
Critical to this, Mr Hoban asserted, is that for credit unions, "growth and expansion must be established on the basis of credibility".
But the overall message was that the coalition wishes to see significant change and is legislating for it through its programme of reforming the financial sector.
Responding to this, Abcul president Reverend Antony Macrow-Wood said: "We hope that the new legislation, which will make such a difference to the sector, will complete its passage through parliament as quickly as possible."
The comments come at a time when there has been little change in the availability of credit of late, according to the Bank of England.
Its Credit Conditions Survey for the second quarter showed that the availability of secured credit was up slightly in the three months to the end of June compared to the first quarter, but is expected to fall back a little in the months ahead.
The level of unsecured credit remained little changed, just as it had in the first quarter.
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