Graham Bishop submitted a response on behalf of the European Movement (UK). The extracts below from the questions and answers give a flavour of the depth of HM Treasury's review.
Graham Bishop is a member of the National Council of the European Movement (UK) and is a consultant on European Integration (link to CV)
The full submission is available here. The central message is that the UK must step forward to regain its influence in one of the world’s largest financial markets. In short, we must `get real’!
2 How might the UK benefit from more or less EU action? The best chance of reform probably lies in taking decisions for the public good well away from local `regulatory capture’.
3 How have EU rules helped …? At the macro-economic level rather than financial services, the EU has made revolutionary changes to its economic governance structure since 2010. In the financial services field and crucially in banking, the rule changes are still a work in progress
4 Is the volume and detail of EU rule-making in financial services pitched at the right level? The dramatic rise in the volume of measures – as well as the enormous increase in the length of the documents – is the logical corollary of moving regulation progressively to the European level.
5 How has the EU’s approach to Third Country access affected the ability of UK firms and markets to trade internationally? The bargaining power that flows from having the world’s largest single market should not be underestimated. The UK as a stand-alone negotiator would have little chance of achieving anything once the US Congress has decided its rules.
6 Do you think that more or less EU-level regulation in the area of retail financial services would bring benefits to consumers? After the colossal, sustained failure of UK-level regulation to protect British consumers from waves of rapacious mis-selling, it is difficult to foresee anything worse from EU rules.
7 What has been the impact of the shift towards regulation and supervision at the EU level..? The concept of a single market – as regularly extolled by the Chancellor of the Exchequer – logically requires a single set of rules that are uniformly enforced. Only then can a firm seeking to do business anywhere in the EU be sure of equal treatment.
8 Does the UK have an appropriate level of influence on EU legislation in financial services? I have the strong perception that UK influence is rapidly slipping away as the political debate in the UK is widely read on the other side of the Channel as a prelude to the UK leaving the EU. The European Parliament has already indicated that it will set up an EMU area sub-Committee.
9 How effective and accountable is the EU policy-making process on financial services legislation..? The formal process may well be respected, but the result is not a proper scrutiny of legislative proposals when perhaps 2000 amendments must be considered. However, the original sin was not in the legislatures of the EU (or US) but in the financial services industry that let society down so comprehensively that a massive change in scope and detail of almost every item of financial legislation became necessary.
11 What may be the impact of future challenges and opportunities for the UK..? The natural result of a wide banking union soon - and a euro area that steadily broadens to match the contours of that banking union – is that the rules will be set increasingly at the level of that group to maximise the common good for their 450 million citizens.
European Movement (UK) webpage
Graham Bishop - Consultant on EU Integration - Political, Financial, Economic, Budgetary
Rolling Blog
© Graham Bishop
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