David Maddox: Time for the banks to show all

Tavish Scott, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader known for once marauding with fellow Vikings through Holyrood (as pictured right), has now turned his axe on another well barred door.

He has an interesting motion down in parliament calling on banks, which are nationalised in all but name, to come under the auspices of the Freedom of Information Act.

His point being that a lack of accountability and transparency is one of the reasons that an industry that has been a source of pride for Scots for more than 300 years was laid low. Bank of Scotland is no more and furious Royal Bank shareholders who at times looked more like a linch mob declared their bank dead in all but name too at their annual general meeting today.

The FOI for banks idea is one that has already been pushed by the Lib Dems down south in Westminster, however, there is an interesting element to Mr Scott's motion. FOI is a devolved matter and the Scottish Government is currently consulting on extending it.

Therefore it is possible that nationalised or largely state owned backs based in Scotland could become subject to FOI if the Scottish Government are inclined to agree with Mr Scott.

Here is the motion:

*S3M-3827 Tavish Scott: Freedom of Information and the Banking Sector—That the Parliament reaffirms its commitment to the principles of openness and transparency that underpin freedom of information legislation; believes that the public has a right to expect transparency from public organisations and from private organisations that perform public functions; regrets that, with the taxpayer holding a majority stake in two major Scottish banks, the UK Government does not allow freedom of information legislation to cover banks that have been bailed out with public funds, and therefore calls on the UK Government to amend freedom of information legislation to include nationalised banks and banks where the taxpayer holds a majority stake.