Jacob Rees-Mogg has slammed the Financial Conduct Authority after they issued new diversity and inclusion targets for banks and insurers, advising them on the type of people they should employ.
Speaking on his GB News show, State of the Nation, the presenter hit out at the targets, following their recent ruling on the debanking scandal involving fellow presenter Nigel Farage, where they concluded that 'no politicians had been debanked primarily for his or her political views'.
Rees-Mogg said: "The Financial Conduct Authority, one of the most powerful of the financial regulators in this country, disgraced itself last week when it released a report which suggested no politicians had been debanked, quote primarily for his or her political views. But the report, bizarrely, didn't look at Nigel Farage's case, the highest profile one of all.
"Well, perhaps one of the most stark revelations of the whole debanking affair is that it showed how ridiculous corporate wokery is. NatWest, whilst it indulged in the sinister rhetoric of diversity and inclusion, proved that it had no regard for diversity and was quite keen on exclusion in scenarios such as this, one looks to the regulator for help, specifically the FCA. That's its job.
Rees-Mogg continued: "But lo and behold, it came to pass that the FCA, along with the PRA, have proved themselves to be as much part of the problem as the NatWest. Yesterday they issued new diversity and inclusion targets for banks and insurers on the type of people it ought to employ, as well as developing a diversity and inclusion strategy, and to collect, to report and to disclose data against the regulator's targets.
"This is the death of meritocracy. To get on in the city, you will now have to be a quota filler, and firms will face extra costly bureaucracy and additional committees and form filling, to show that they're politically correct rather than financially competent."
Watch the discussion in full above.
Tune in to Jacob Rees-Mogg's State of the Nation, Monday to Thursday from 8pm, only on GB News.
