The flaws in Sunak’s emergency loans plan suggest he isn’t Superman after all

The new 'Cbils' scheme is much improved. But many of its shortcomings could have been identified at the start

Banks are wicked and Rishi Sunak walks on water. That, at least, was the narrative that prevailed until the end of last week. The dashing new chancellor, the cabinet star of the coronavirus moment, had assembled the Treasury's armoury to provide lending to British businesses on unprecedented scale. It was only the damn banks that were stopping the cash reaching intended recipients.

This storyline now looks wrong. Sunak and the Treasury's "further action", announced on Thursday night to support struggling British firms, was not a mere tweak. It was a sweeping redesign of a lending scheme that had glaring flaws.

Some banks were asking for guarantees at launch; some weren't. No wonder borrowers were angry

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