by Keith Richmond
Pressure is growing on the Government to return Northern Rock, which has been bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of £14.5 billion, to the mutual sector – to turn it back into a building society rather than floating it on the stock market or making it the subject of a private sale.
More than 100 MPs have now signed an Early Day Motion supporting the move. Chancellor Alistair Darling says he has “no difficulty with the concept of a mutual” and, in September, Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said: “There is a real opportunity for us to look at this but I’m not pretending it’s going to be easy.”
Rob MacGregor, national officer of Unite, which represents workers in the financial sector, said he would welcome Northern Rock becoming a building society again. He said: “Demutualisation has been a disaster for the financial services sector in Britain.”
