[gynn]

The alleged fixing of the LIBOR rate by Barclays and other banks has the potential to become one of the great scandals of the decade, putting cash for questions, MPs allowances etc into the shade.

The LIBOR rate affects the level of interest everyone pays, including individual mortgage holders and businesses trying to grow.

And in all the years I worked in local government finance, the LIBOR rate was one of the key figures on which all borrowing by local councils was based. If the rate was artificially rigged in favour of the banks, councils will have been paying more than they should to borrow money. To cash strapped councils like Hyndburn, this means that spending on services will have been lower to pay these higher interest rates.

So high profile cuts that have had to be made may not have been necessary.

It is a 'crime' that effectively swindled everybody, and the fact that the ensuing profits were paid as bonuses to a select few only exacerbates the position.

It is the economics of a third world banana republic, and it will be interesting to watch the scandal develop and heads roll.