Nothing must get in the way of CBDCs
Rishi Sunak has rejected a Tory MP’s call for shops to accept cash payments.
Sunak was pressed by Newton Abbott MP Anne Marie Morris about whether establishments serving the public should be mandated to provide the option during his appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
“make it illegal for retailers and services to decline cash payments”.
Anne Morris, who sits on the Treasury Select Committee, asked the Prime Minister: “Will the Prime Minister look again at the Financial Services and Markets Bill, when it comes back from the other place, and ensure that any entity providing a public service directly to the public, involving payments or a charge, must accept cash?”
She also pointed to a study conducted by LINK which revealed 45 per cent of Britons have been somewhere where cash has not been accepted or even discouraged. The study also found that 49 per cent of people said being unable or being discouraged to pay in cash was inconvenient.
Sunak's reply was full of orwellian doublespeak with the PM first stating: “We know that cash continues to be used by millions of people, particularly those in vulnerable groups. That is why the Financial Services and Markets Bill will, for the first ever time, protect people’s access to cash in UK law." but then went on to contradict himself by stating: “The Bill also supports businesses that continue to accept cash by ensuring reasonable access to deposit facilities, but as technology and consumer behaviour changes, it is right that organisations themselves should be able to choose the forms of payment that they will accept.”
Sunak side-stepped the original demand which had come from a public petition that had received over 33,000 signatures.
The original petition stated:
“make it illegal for retailers and services to decline cash payments”.
In response Sunak said: “The Government does not plan to mandate cash acceptance" “Businesses are able to choose the forms of payment they accept.”
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