Bats in the banks
BARCLAYS' NEW head office is the worst thing the banks have done for the environment lately. They do not pollute rivers or drop acid rain on Scandinavia or disturb the bats in their branches and bel- fries. None of this has stopped Tim Yeo, a jobbing minister now at the Environment Department, from trying to debit their accounts. 'It is not enough', he has been telling them, 'to say that the polluter must pay. Liability should follow responsibility — possibly even to bankers under some cir- cumstances.' The Americans have got there already. The principle of suing the nearest open wallet has been established in the courts by environmental lawyers ( a contra- diction in terms, as I say) and environmen- tal auditors have followed. They will advise on the environmental liability entailed in giving you an overdraft. Like the lawyers, they take time and cost money — guess whose — and can safeguard themselves by turning their thumbs down. Now Mr Yeo threatens to penalise banks for lending to industry. I wonder, as often with this Gov- ernment, whether ministers are taught to engage brain before opening mouth.
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