Commenting on the news that the Swiss Bank UBS have been fined £940 million for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate, from their City of London office SNP Work and Pensions spokesperson Dr Eilidh Whiteford said :
"The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has described this report as 'not pretty reading' for the City of London. That this breathtaking misconduct was happening in the UK and during the period of the last Labour government is indeed shocking. It follows the recent fines and resignations at Barclays Bank and could be a prelude to future action against other banks here.
"It raises the issue of what were the Chancellors of the Exchequer at the time, including Alistair Darling, doing to ensure that the good order of the financial sector was maintained.
"And it certainly places a big question mark over Mr Darling's credibility as head of the No campaign that this happened under the Westminster system of government, and it happened under his watch.
"The FSA has said today that the misconduct was extensive and widespread and involved dozens of individuals. It is extraordinary to read that it may have been so common that every single Libor submission during the period examined between 2005 and 2010 may have been tainted. It is a terrible legacy of the Labour years, and underlines the failures of Westminster government."