Recommendation 13

The NAO found that, when challenged on its loans to borrowers within the GFG Alliance group, Greensill told the Bank that it had received “political steers” that its support for the steel industry was welcomed.34 We asked the Department what Greensill had meant by receiving political steers. The Department told us it did not know, and that it had not been able to find evidence that any minister in the Department had provided “any level of political cover for Greensill’s actions under the scheme”.35 It explained that it had explicitly asked all its ministers whether any level of political cover had been provided to Greensill. It noted that ministers were keen to see the steel industry supported, and so the principle that there were lenders that would use the schemes to make money available to the steel industry had political and official level support. But it told us that there was “absolutely no evidence” that any assurance had been given around the idea that any lender would abuse scheme rules in order to do so.36