Commenting on Business Secretary Vince Cable’s announcement that the Government has taken the first steps in funding a bank to help small and medium sized businesses, British Fluid Power Association (BFPA) director Ian Morris commented: “The Business Secretary’s unveiling of Government plans to create a Government-backed business bank, including new Government funding of £1 billion, is very welcome news. Since the downturn and subsequent credit crunch of 2008 many SMEs in a variety of industry sectors such as manufacturing and exports – including the fluid power industry which we serve – have often found levels of adequate funding nigh on impossible to obtain due to the polity of many banks to tighten their lending criteria. Indeed, long before the downturn in 2008 British industry had lacked a central source of flexible and longer-term funding. This new Government initiative aimed at attracting private sector funding to support up to £10 billion of new and additional business lending is therefore to be applauded, although I believe this could have been introduced a good deal earlier. By providing this level of finance and support from a single source this latest Government proposal – if it comes to fruition quickly and effectively – could be just the spur needed to lift British industry to the levels of growth that we need.”