Vince Cable calls for action on short-selling of bank stocks

During the Liberal Democrat party conference, Vince Cable set out his proposals for tackling some of the causes of the current financial crisis:

Short-selling in UK bank stocks should be banned by the City watchdog to stop “aggressive” speculators “betting against the taxpayer”, Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat deputy leader, said …

“The hedge funds are betting against the taxpayer, since they know that if a leading British bank were to collapse, the government would have no alternative but to intervene,” said Mr Cable.

The party’s Treasury team believes a ban on the short trade would halt a cycle of “fear feeding on fear”. [Financial Times]

UPDATE: Success.