Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:03 pm on 24 February 2003.
The small firms loan guarantee has of necessity been successful at various times and to varying degrees. After the recessionary effects of the early 1990s, it was clear that the retrenchment of lending by banks without security made that scheme more necessary. However, if the Cruickshank report were implemented in a way that was successful in stimulating genuine competitiveness on the part of banks lending to small businesses, one of the corollaries would be the reduction of the desirability of large-scale funding through the small firms loan guarantee scheme.