By Andy Silvester
What does betrayal look like? It’s easy to identify in love, and pretty simple at work, too.
One side committed – the other sniffing around elsewhere. It’s harder to judge in politics, where snake-like behaviour is more easily accepted.
Such a quiet betrayal has been at play for decades in how the Treasury treats the City. As we report today, financial services continue to contribute well above the average to the Treasury.
The tax take last year was more than the entire education budget.
Yet action to allow that particular golden-egg-laying-goose to grow further is sorely lacking. Reforms needed to reinvigorate the stock exchange are gathering dust on the shelves of Treasury and regulator mandarins.
A trade tax, rightly identified by the boss of the London Stock Exchange itself yesterday as a barrier to growth, remains firmly on the books; even the suggestion of getting rid of it last year was met with a stern shake of the head from the Chancellor.
Even universities – which have been a valuable training ground for UK-based financial services firms, ensuring London retains its human capital – are now set to suffer at the hands of immigration restrictions.
Is it betrayal? Benign neglect? Complacency? Whatever it is, it’s hard to shake the feeling that it’s time for the government to show some love to the industries that pay so many of the country’s bills.
With an ageing population and ever-growing demands on public services, somebody will have to.
Should the City not be nurtured, its continued ability to cough up could be threatened.
Not overnight, of course, but chipped away at a listing in New York not here, a headquarters moved from London to Singapore or Dubai. The Treasury would be wise to get ahead of that.
