This is a precedent-setting move that we hope other nations will emulate. “After Nigel Farage’s banks accounts were closed by Coutts because his views ‘did not align with’ the bank’s values….senior conservative MPs have put pressure on Coutts,” and reports indicate that “ministers are considering making free speech protections a condition of permits.” This puts banks at the risk of “losing their licences if they close accounts because they disagree with the customer’s political opinions under plans to protect free speech.”
It’s about time. It isn’t only woke governments that are acting in a totalitarian fashion. Businesses have joined in. Far too many businesses today have become activist arbitrators of public views,
Reuters also reported:
Britain’s financial watchdog has stepped into a row over the closure of former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage’s bank accounts, after Farage claimed NatWest’s (NWG.L) private bank Coutts had sought to cut him off on political grounds.
British banks are in the spotlight as the UK government has begun looking into concerns some have allegedly blacklisted certain customers over their politics…..
….prime minister Rishi Sunak said the government was tightening rules around account closures.
Businesses have also sunk to actively pushing a woke agenda on consumers. Outside of the UK, woke Disney lost $900 million “in recent box office flops as liberal agenda being pushed in movies.” Bud Light, which was once America’s top-selling beer, is now the 14th-best-selling beer in America, and sinking. As of May, Anheuser-Busch lost “nearly $19 billion with shares down 14%.” Target has also lost billions. Once can see the double standards of these woke operations. If a lower level employee cost the company a small fraction of such losses, he or she would be instantly fired.
Woke activists from politics and media to the entertainment industry and even the financial sector are out of control. There is now indeed pushback from customers and leaders such as Farage, but much more pushback is needed, as well as accountability.
Farage has been an outspoken critic of government leaders, particularly on open-door immigration. “Banks will also have to give an explanation of why the accounts are being closed and customers will be able to appeal the decision.” Farage is now praising the “swift intervention by government ministers” to stop banks from cracking down on customers whose views may not align with that of the bank’s woke values. New laws are expected to be tabled to prevent such bank abuses.
“Bank’s licence could be ‘revoked’ in UK for banning customers over their political views,” by Cormac Pearson, Independent, July 20, 2023:
Banks could lose their licences if they close customers’ accounts over their political views, it has been reported.
According to The Times, ministers are considering making new laws that stop banks turning customers away in an effort to protect free speech.
The Treasury will also reportedly announce plans as soon as next week to extend the notice time given to customers to close their accounts from one month to three months.
Banks will also have to give an explanation of why the accounts are being closed and customers will be able to appeal the decision.
It comes after Nigel Farage’s banks accounts were closed by Coutts because his views “did not align with” the bank’s values.
Meanwhile, senior conservative MPs have put pressure on Coutts and its owner NatWest after the closure of Mr Farage’s accounts.
In the House of Lords on Wednesday, Treasury minister Baroness Penn said: “I think the point that we can all agree on is that the right to lawful freedom of speech is fundamental.
“And where that has seemed to be brought into question through the provision of services, we have cause to worry.”…
Hansl says
Good news for the Farage! Way to go!
Bexarkat says
Sad commentary from the people who gave liberty and freedom via the Magna Carta.
John Allan says
‘It comes after Nigel Farage’s banks accounts were closed by Coutts because his views “did not align with …” the bank’s values … Meanwhile, senior conservative MPs have put pressure on Coutts and its owner NatWest …’
Banks have VALUES!!?? ???
And that pressure being applied needs, if necessary, to extend to withdrawing Coutts’ – or even Nat West’s – banking licence.
Hoi Polloi says
Nigel could have spoken for those canceled before him.
somehistory says
It’s the way of many….they don’t speak until personally affected.
Hoi Polloi says
Makes their tidal wave of Marxism more comprehensible. Sweep enough people under fast enough before they begin to comprehend and fight back.
An Irish lady addresses the speed of the trans shift by saying that orgs have a parent, maybe unknown to others initially, who transed a kid. It can’t be addressed directly in the org by others, policies shift, and there’s no going back because the parent who pushes policies through can never admit just what they’ve done to their child.
somehistory says
More and more the ruined kids are telling.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/detransitioned-boy-castrated-by-doctors-warns-kids-about-perils-of-gender-ideology-patient-for-life/ar-AA1ea20S?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=30399e0de6b24b3f8e305ef37efdb4df&ei=21
somehistory says
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/teen-who-went-through-de-transitioning-after-transgender-surgery-says-i-feel-mutilated-and-like-an-experiment-gone-wrong/ss-AA1eaMUk?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=30399e0de6b24b3f8e305ef37efdb4df&ei=47
Hoi Polloi says
Good posts. It’s the sad result, as well as the only way to stop these monsters who without conscience mutilate children. The adults should be in prison.
Mark Spahn says
“Nigel Farage’s banks accounts were closed by Coutts because his views ‘did not align with’ the bank’s values”
Where can one find a complete list of this bank’s (or any other company’s) values?
࿗Infidel࿘ says
This is a good question. I know nobody reads the small print in the plethora of documents they get from a bank after they have opened an account. However, banks should be more upfront about who they like or dislike, so that if a bank is paying Leftist charities to virtue-signal the woke crowd, people on the Right know to avoid doing business w/ them
They don’t want our business? That opinion is mutual!
Hoi Polloi says
A good statement of their values can be formed in one’s mind by reading the list of international money-laundering criminals they do see as deserving of banking services. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/07/19/coutts-clients-mafia-bosses-dictators-russian-oligarchs/
Fitna says
I’d say it’s the ‘woke-sharia’ agenda, it’s not just Leftists who want to destroy their opponents including preventing them from even accessing money to survive, Muslims want the exact same thing and I’m sure many of them are embedded in the Left pushing for these policies.
Only the gov’t should be allowed to freeze accounts/seize money, etc. for lawful reasons, like if the person is a terrorist or other form of criminal.
Ofc this has been happening to us ‘little people’ for decades…think of poor Laura Loomer and Katie Hopkins for example, they are outstanding defenders of free speech and opponents of Islam, mass migration and the radical Leftist agenda. They were de-platformed from social media and even got locked out of credit cards and accounts.
Freedom of speech the cornerstone to all our freedoms and the banks/institution have no business touching anyone’s accounts unless there is a court order to do so.
Now I guess we just have to wait for Muslims to start attacking the ruling elites’ families till they realize it’s a problem for “all of us.” What a bunch of smug bastards.
David Everitt says
Can Insurance companies come under these new rules?, Britain First suffer vehicle group insurance refusal, all insurers pressurised by false accusations of West York’s Police in their political persecution of the BF to suit their own malicious agenda, another Farage case.
S RITWIK says
By the same count bank accounts of persons yelling Allahu Akbar in public should be closed immediately.