Britannia Radio

The government is being 'economical with the truth' over this.  The 
fact is that since Britain only asked permission to do this last 
week, it hasn't been given yet so it'a a real example of "do nothing 
government" .

This was supposed to be £10,000 million help for industry.  All 
Brown's lot can talk about is something amounting to  to 0.0007% of 
that,  which they agreed to anyway!

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FINANCIAL TIMES 2.3.09
£10bn loan guarantee scheme hit by delays
By Jean Eaglesham, Chief Political Correspondent

The government's flagship £10bn business lending guarantee scheme, 
due to come into force on Monday, is weeks behind schedule.

The delay will fuel business and union concerns about the pace of 
government measures to combat the recession.

The £10bn scheme was the centrepiece of a package of measures, 
branded "real help for business", unveiled by business secretary Lord 
Mandelson on January 14. The scheme is designed to support up to 
£20bn of existing short-term bank lending to medium-sized companies, 
freeing up capital for new corporate loans.
"The first £1bn tranche of the scheme should be operational by 1 
March, supporting around £2bn of loans," the department for business 
said in January. But the department has now told the FT it is unable 
to give a date for when this first tranche is likely to come into 
effect.

Portfolios of corporate loans for inclusion in the scheme have been 
submitted by more than one bank. The government is only now, however, 
starting to enter into negotiations with the lenders over the price 
that will be charged for the guarantees.

Officials said the commitment to the scheme becoming "operational" 
this month was always intended to refer to the start of negotiations, 
rather than the guarantees - and associated release of extra money 
for lending - coming into effect.

"From March we will enter into pricing negotiations with the banks 
which have submitted portfolios," the department said. Some banks are 
reported to have submitted substantial loan portfolios to access the 
scheme.

The scheme is dependent on state aid clearance from Brussels. The 
government submitted the request for that clearance only  last  week.