The Government announced today some partners in their roll-out of pilots, But the Current Financial Crisis demonstrates how important it is that there should be a national money guidance scheme, so that people will be able to think more carefully about how they manage their money, so that they will be more likely to save and so that they will have greater confidence in savings and investment.

But the Financial Crisis also exposed structural weaknesses in the real economy.

The period since then has seen a gradual return to basic political stability, But the Recent Financial Crisis and the economic traumas that that ushered in have had a big impact on the lives of many people in the region.

We were almost there and the council had the project “oven-ready” - ready for Government investment - But the Financial Crisis led to the reduction of investment in such projects and the work never went ahead.