The following has been supplied by the TUC:
A government-ordered commission has concluded 'reckless' bankers should be jailed for their misconduct, prompting the TUC to call for equally stern treatment for safety criminals. The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, set up by Chancellor George Osborne last year, followed a series of scandals involving the industry. Calling for reckless irresponsibility by bankers to be made a criminal offence, the report - which has been welcomed by the government, concluded: 'Senior executives were aware that they would not be punished for what they could not see and promptly donned the blindfolds. Where they could not claim ignorance, they fell back on the claim that everyone was party to a decision, so that no individual could be held squarely to blame - the Murder on the Orient Express defence.' Writing in the TUC's safety facebook page, head of safety Hugh Robertson noted: 'This is the same as they have been accused of doing on health and safety. However the solution proposed is very different.' He points out that 'while we have been fobbed of with guidance,' the commission has a more demanding standard for bankers. 'Senior bankers should be assigned clear responsibilities with the legal onus on them to show they have done all that is reasonably required.' The commission report adds: 'Recklessly disregarding those responsibilities should be made a criminal offence - including a possible prison sentence.' According to Robertson: 'This is exactly what we have been arguing for on health and safety for decades. A specific duty on directors. We have been fobbed off with guidance. It looks like the government is going to urgently accept the recommendations of the Banking Commission, but of course this is about money. Our call for a duty health and safety is only about lives.'
