ABSTRACT
In response to the continuing complaints about the existence of an equity gap, governments in the post-war period have implemented a number of policies. This chapter sets these policies in historical perspective. There is no doubt that the financial sector perceived the Macmillan report as a threat to their freedom from government interference. Indeed, although the report led to the creation of ICFC, it is revealed in this chapter that this was merely a calculated attempt by the Treasury and the Bank of England to avoid a more serious form of political intervention. Many of the explanations for the continued dominance of the financial sector focus on the Bank of England. In institutional terms the Bank is clearly an asset to the financial sector. Frank Longstreth argues that ‘the position of finance has been preserved through its penetration of key state bureaucracies, its ability to control important levers of power.
