The Labour Party has called for an investigation as media reports called out former prime minister David Cameron for meeting Treasury officials to lobby for Greensill Capital. The Financial Times reported that Cameron, an adviser to Greensill, tried to increase the specialist bank's access to government-backed Covid-19 emergency loan schemes. The Treasury reportedly confirmed the meeting, however, decided to not take things further.
The Financial Times revealed that public records show 10 virtual meetings between March and June last year between Greensill representatives and the two most senior officials at the Treasury. A Treasury spokesperson was quoted as saying, “Treasury officials regularly meet with stakeholders to discuss our economic response to Covid. The meetings in question were primarily about broadening the scope of CCFF [Covid Corporate Financing Facility] to enable access for providers of supply chain finance, which - following a call for evidence and discussions with several other firms within the sector - we decided against and informed the businesses concerned.”
Labour's shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds said, “Taxpayers and businesses deserve answers about why it appears Greensill was given so much access to the Treasury. The government must thoroughly investigate into the issue.”
Greensill, a key backer of Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Steel, collapsed last week putting his empire and 5,000 jobs at risk. It's collapse has given birth to grave concerns about the future of these employees.
