Jeremy Hunt torches lessons of the financial crisis in desperate bid to find Brexit win

The reforms enacted after the devastating financial crisis of 2008 were carefully considered and had a consistent intellectual framework, writes James Moore. Jeremy Hunt’s package, by contrast, has been put together for cynical political purposes

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt (AP)

The post-financial crisis spectacle of executives crying crocodile tears at hearings after their employers, or former employers, had received billions of pounds in bailout money that ought to have been spent on schools and hospitals was a truly dismal one.

Are we about to see a repeat?

On Friday, the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, unveiled what have become known as the Edinburgh reforms after their announcement in the UK’s second-largest financial centre. The aim is to turbocharge the first, namely London.