The right to take class actions has been dropped? What a surprise

It always felt as if the right for disgruntled consumers to take "class actions" against financial firms was added to the financial services bill at the eleventh hour. Little surprise, then, that the planned provision was withdrawn in the dying days of the government to ensure that the bill, which is bringing in powers to let the FSA tear up bankers' contracts if they are too risky, is passed. The fact that big firms had been campaigning hard against the provision that could have forced them to pay out redress to customers demonstrates this is a right consumers would have welcomed after years of mistreatment over the sales of endowment policies, pensions, split capital trusts and the like. The next government should ensure it puts the provision back on the legislative agenda.