A pro-Brexit Tory MP just asked a PMQs question worthy of John McDonnell

Peter Bone


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Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) returned on 22 April. And while in a different format – with limited MPs allowed in the chamber and others appearing virtually, it was almost business as usual.

Except in these weird times, when we’ve found ourselves agreeing with Piers Morgan, it was another unlikely contender who asked a question worthy of former shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

Pro-Brexit Tory Peter Bone, who “definitely” believed UKIP “has been a good thing for British politics”, slammed the banks’ response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

“What on earth is going on?”

Bone highlighted that many people are having to rely on their overdrafts due to the pandemic:

Yet the banks are charging 20% interest per year, which they’re going to increase to 40% in July. At the same time, they’re offering savers a pathetic interest rate of 0.1%.

And as many of us who paid the cost of the bank bailout through austerity know only too well, Bone stated:

Yet these are the same banks that were saved by billions and billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.

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Before somewhat incredulously exclaiming:

What on earth is going on?

Although cut off mid-way, Bone managed to finish with a question that many people would like the answer to:

When are the banks going to act in the national interest?

You know it’s an apocalypse when…

Many Twitter users found themselves in the strange position of agreeing with Bone:

And others suggested that he did a better job than new Labour leader Keir Starmer at holding the government to account:

Others, however, couldn’t help but celebrate Bone getting cut off, given his previous parliamentary contributions:

Unfortunately, it’s not rocket science

While this was an eminently good question from Bone, the answer is not rocket science. Because the fact is that banks don’t and never have worked in the national interest. And it was only down to pressure that they caved at the beginning of the month and halted payments of billions of pounds to shareholders.

Accountability is needed. And the banks need to explain why they’re profiting from an international crisis. But the truth is that this is something the banks do very well. After all, banks profit from the climate crisis and the arms trade on a daily basis.

The only way this can change is through a revolution in our financial institutions; sweeping changes to ensure they work for people not profit. Unfortunately, this is not something either the Conservative Party (nor the Labour Party under Starmer) is likely to do.

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