Banks must lend, but Labour's cheap and easy credit is not the answer

Chuka Umunna, Labour's business spokesman, has attacked the "utterly absurd notion" that his party's rhetoric on banks was anti-business.

But what really is utterly absurd is the notion that banks are deliberately withholding credit - lending is how they earn their egregious bonuses after all.

Yes, lending may have fallen but so too has demand for loans. And yes, that may be down to credit costing more but that's exactly what current bank reforms are aimed at.

We need less of the absurd borrowing at silly rates that characterised his party's time in power. I can only assume from his comments that Umunna wants a return to risky banks throwing good money after bad.

It's odd that bankers, such as Stephen Hester, are being criticised for running less risky, more prudent lenders which can support companies with sustainable lines of credit.

That's what our business community and wider economy needs, not a return to the cheap and easy credit of Labour's illusory wealth creation.