You could almost hear the cries of " look Gordon, it worked" reverberating around Downing Street over the last few days with the announcement that sales of new cars rose for the first time in 15 months in July, as the government’s innovative "cash-for-bangers" scheme appeared to be finally coaxing more buyers back into new car showrooms.

Since the scheme was launched in May, official figures show that orders have been placed for more than 150,000 new cars have been ordered through the government’s scrappage scheme, meaning that that more than half of the money set aside to fund the scheme has already been taken up.

Already a lobby group representing dealers has been mustered to call for the scheme incentives to be extended when the scheme’s funding ends, stating that argument that the government’s £300 million programme has already been recovered due to the tax receipts earned in the sales. .

According to data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), registrations of new cars rose by 2.4 per cent last month to a total 157,149 units, marked their first year-on-year rise since April of 2008. According to the SMMT 21 per cent of last month’s registrations were a direct result of the scrappage scheme, with almost one-fifth of that number emanating from orders placed in the South East of England.

Sales of small car sales appeared to be growing the fastest, and Ford Motor’s Fiesta model was the UK’s best-selling car. Registrations of mini segment cars more than tripled in July, while registrations of "super-minis" rose by more than fifteen percent.

Meanwhile an independent analyst also announced that while the increased sales of new cars could be directly attributed to the scrappage scheme, the year-on-year rise may also be a further sign that a significant number of UK consumers are now enjoying the ability to step up their discretionary spending.

• Taxpayers Between "Like a Rock" and a Hard Place on GM Bailout Mr. ToughMoneyLove doesn't particularly want to add to all of...
• Eliminate Credit Card Debt - 47 Ways To Save Money and Get The Cash You need to Get Rid of Your Credit Card Debt Credit card debt is a major stressor for many consumers....
• Our GM: Bankrupt with Little Green Cars and a Mob Boss Sunday Paper - May 31st, 2009  General Motors Corp. has...

Tags: Alastair Darling, British Economy, cash-for-bangers, Credit Crunch, Downing Street, Economy, Gordon Brown, Money, Money Management, Retail, scrappage scheme, SMMT, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders

It can be no coincidence that a company such as Tesco, who has such a strong feel of the street, is pulling out all the stops to get into high street banking. The reason has to be that in no time in history has there been so little trust between the public, the business community and the banks.

And the great irony is that the UK publics are now the largest shareholders in the banks that they seem very reluctant to do business with. And vice versa. Seemingly the outwardly placid Alistair Darling’s read the riot act on Sunday with leaders of the UK banking community, at a specially convened meeting held at 11 Downing Street, with his main contention being that the banks continue to suppress the growth or re-birth of UK business by refusing to free credit at the levels required to kick start the economy

The sad fact is that for many years the UK government and UK financial sector have worked hand-in-hand to fund government projects and increase economic activity within the UK. However, since the worldwide recession, the reputation of the traditional UK banking sector has become so tarnished and a barrier of distrust has been built that it seems impossible to break down. public any number one and the distance between the government and the sector has never been greater.

As banking leaders left the meeting they were apparently under a much stronger impression that action has to be taken, and in the short term. However, it still remains to be seen whether the UK banking leaders will actually fall in line

What does remain certain however is that in spite of the tens of billions of pounds spent on rescuing banks, companies are still struggling to gain access to finance and the UK government programme that injected £125 billion of the public’s money into the economy has so far produced results that can please nobody..

• Top 5 Reasons PR Matters in a Recession ....One of the first couple of departments to get the...
• Bank Nationalization, Should We Or Shouldn't We? Six months ago, the idea of nationalizing banks was preposterous...
• Bush Plans to Host World Summit to Address the Current Credit Crisis The United States President George Bush recently announced his intention...

Tags: Alastair Darling, Alistair Darling, Bank, Banking, British Economy, Credit Crunch, Downing Street, Economics, Finance, Financial News, Money, Recession, Tesco, UK Banks, UK financial sector, UK government, UK Recession