The financial sector has found its way to the front of the queue when it comes to accessing Treasury ministers, receiving more facetime with ministers than any other sector in the first quarter of 2024, according to fresh analysis from research and campaign group Positive Money. 

Treasury ministers met 102 times with private finance and its lobbyists, equating to 40.5% of the 252 external meetings they had between January and March this year. This represents a slight uptick on the 39% and 38.3% of meetings which found private finance secured in 2023 and 2022 respectively, and a marked increase on the 30.5% the sector scored over 2021 and 2020. 

As these meetings took place, the Conservative government was still at the helm, granting the finance sector ample time to air concerns from cryptoassets to the competitiveness of the UK financial sector. These frequent meetings seem to have had tangible benefits for banks, as they’ve managed to secure tax cuts and resist calls for windfall taxes on the record profits they’ve made at the public’s expense from higher interest rates.

Now banks are reportedly intensifying lobbying efforts in response to speculation that the new Labour government is considering higher taxes on banks in the October Budget. Positive Money has previously calculated that a windfall tax on banks at the 35% rate implemented on oil and gas companies would generate £14 billion from just the 2023 profits of the “big four” UK banks: HSBC, Barclays, NatWest and Lloyds. 

The last government gave unequal attention to the City of London at the expense of the wider economy. This new government should not make the same mistake.

We don’t know how many meetings the finance sector has secured with the current government yet, but the sector’s track record suggests they are unlikely to ease up on their efforts. The public will be closely watching Labour’s decisions in the upcoming Budget—will the new leadership maintain the status quo, or will they take a stronger stance to ensure that banks contribute their fair share?

While the City plays a critical role in the UK’s economy, Positive Money’s analysis serves as a sharp reminder that with great access comes great responsibility—both for the financial sector and the government officials who meet with them.

This government cannot let the finance sector talk it out of fair taxes behind closed doors. A windfall tax on banks would redress the unequal impact higher rates have had on households, who don’t have the luxury of one-on-one time with the Chancellor to recount the impact soaring borrowing costs have had on them.

New ministers would do well to remember it was a lax approach to the City that ultimately cost the last Labour government the public’s trust.

Banks won’t stop talking, but will the government listen to the public instead?