Hindsight

In politics hindsight can be a beautiful thing. You can backtrack on elections promises, 'interpret' poll results and even change your response to a crisis when it is, no longer, a crisis. Remember the banking collapse of 2008? At the time the politicos, all with the hope of appearing knight, desperately tried to come up with a solution to a crisis that seemed, in hindsight ironically, inevitable.

After much debate, some worthwhile some not so much, a number of key policies were landed upon by the majority of politicians. These included:

1) To separate retail banking from private housing banking. This would mean the housing market would no longer rely on the fluctuations of the markets to determine stability.

2) Encouraging investment in and creation of smaller businesses by using a mixture of tax breaks and incentives.

3) Regulating the lending of banks by creating stricter rules for both investment and private lending.

However, since the storm passed in mid-2009 the strategies adopted by politicians have become increasingly less bold and the confrontational attitude they had toward the banking sector has all but disappeared.

In recent weeks the coalition cabinet has become divided over the issue of separating retail and private banking.

Instead of taking the hardline, the one they took in election season, the Conservatives have now backed off as a result of the intense scrutiny of the banking sector. Unfortunately a large part of their voters have interests in this area. As it is, party politics seems to be winning over careful economic strategy.

It's a tough equation. The separation of banking will almost inevitably affect the growth rate of the economy. However, when it comes down to the individual members of this society it becomes apparent that protecting everyones minor interest, their own money and investments, should be the priority of any elected government.

We have yet to see whether this will be the issue that splits the fragile coalition but it is clear that the current debate is only the beginning of the storm.