Vince Cable backs "Bank of Liverpool"

The Liverpool Post reports that Vince Cable has backed Richard Kemp's call for the Liberal Democrat run city council to use its financial muscle to set up new credit unions, region-wide building societies and other financial institutions:

Cllr Kemp said Liverpool used to have a regional bank – Martins – based near the Town Hall.

And he said it boasted two regional building societies in Liverpool and Merseyside. He said the Merseyside councils had gained valuable experience in channelling grants and investments to small and medium-sized companies by overseeing the EU’s Objective One scheme.

Cllr Kemp said: “I think Liverpool should be responsible for working with others to create a banking system that is responsive to Liverpool’s needs.

“In Northern Ireland, one third of all retail banking takes place through credit unions.

"We could work with people like the Co-operative to see if they could create a regional presence with us.

“Frankly, my cat could run a better bankers than the London-based banks. So I want to bring some fresh thinking."

Congratulations to Richard. This is just the sort of idea - decentralised, radical, community based - we should be putting forward.

And congratulations to Richard's cat, who wins Cat of the Day.