Blair
LONDON, (Reuters):
Britain's opposition Conservatives launched a broadside yesterday at banks' eagerness to lend to already indebted consumers and said any economic turndown could trigger a personal debt "time bomb".
A report by Conservative peer and economic expert Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, said his party should impose statutory rules on the banking sector outlawing aggressive marketing practices and increasing transparency of credit charges, if it wins an expected May general election.
Opinion polls make Prime Minister Tony Blair a firm favourite to win a third term in power but some have shown Conservative support picking up.
"The sheer scale of consumer debt has made millions of households extremely vulnerable to shocks in the economy, both from fiscal mismanagement and external factors such as oil price rises, acts of terrorism and wars," the Griffiths report said. "A downturn in the economy would create serious economic and social problems for the 15 million people who struggle with debt repayments.
It added: "Credit is far too easily available in the U.K. Banks market credit too aggressively and protect their own risks but not those of their customers."
Griffiths is a former economics academic, headed Margaret Thatcher's policy unit when she was prime minister and served as a director of the Bank of England.
Britons' personal borrowing passed the one trillion pounds ($1,917 billion) mark for the first time last year.
Conservative finance spokesman Oliver Letwin said his party would act.
"The Griffiths Commission has undertaken a very serious piece of work which reveals equally serious social problems. A Conservative government would certainly consider this report and its implications," he said.
