News In Focus
2 September 2010
Forgotten 2008 bankruptcy plans resurface
George Eustice, Conservative MP for Camborne and Redruth, has tabled a private member's bill which, if passed, would give distressed businesses more protection against having their assets seized and sold off by creditors. Similar plans, floated by the party leadership while in opposition, have been “quietly dropped”, the FT reported yesterday.
In 2008, David Cameron championed an equivalent of the US Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules, which give businesses a safe period in which to put their affairs in order, free from the threat of imminent liquidation. The proposals brought a sceptical response from the business community and did not make it into either the Conservative manifesto or the party’s coalition agreement with the Liberal Democrats.