On this morning’s Today Programme Alistair Darling came as close as I reckon he’ll ever come to setting out his stance on guaranteeing bank deposits. He said:
“What we do in relation to that will differ from institution to institution…what I will do is in every single case and every single instance…I have been very clear I have never ruled anything out.”
So finally an answer of sorts, and that answer is the Chancellor will play each ball as it lies. Basically this means our savings are safe but it’s just a question of who ends up being the guardian – be it a Spanish bank or the government itself. Quite why it took this long to say “we’ll do our best to avoid guarantees but if it has to come to that so be it”, is beyond me.
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