The UK has remained longer in recession than the US or Germany, China or France. It’s not surprising, given the way the government has subsidised banks. It needs to sort them out and get them into shape. Putting ever larger sums of taxpayers money into them delays the necessary adjustment, and undermines the precarious public finances still further.

This week a constituent told me the best rate he was offered by a local bank for a business loan was 12.5%, when we are told interest rates are at bargain basement levels. It’s a case of one low interest rate for the government, and high rates or no money for everyone else. The Bank regulator is demanding they lend less and hold more cash and capital at the same time as the government claims to want the banks to lend more to struggling business.

Lloyds and RBS should be made to sell businesses and assets to raise the money they need. I would like to see half a dozen new banks on the High Street offering us choice and better service, to replace the nationalised duo. The regulator should not tighten his requirements now, but leave that until the recovery is underway.

The UK has the largest budget deficit of any major country. It certainly hasn’t lifted us out of recession in the way we were told it would. Just as subsidising the banks is holding us back, so spending and borrowing too much in the public sector is starving the private sector of cash. That too is now holding us back. It threatens us with worse problems. If the markets lose confidence because the government is spending and borrowing so much, we will face even higher interest rates and more disruption in the economy.

The government now accepts that sometime it has to start bringing spending and borrowing under control. The public debt on official figures is doubling in a two year period. The state is borrowing one pound for every four pounds it is spending. They should start right away. If you need to control your debt, it is not a good idea to go on one more spending binge before you try to sort it out.

It’s not as difficult as some politicians and public bodies seem to think. I was talking to companies who deliver public services for some branches of government already. They reckon many things could be done for a fifth less without damaging the quality. I embarked last year on a programme to cut my Parliamentary office and personal costs by 10% a year in both 2008-9 and 2009-10. The latest unaudited figures from the Commons show I am well ahead of my target cuts. Transferring the newsletter from printed copy to the web for the next edition is the only visible sign of change in service people will see. I started as the 19th cheapest MP in the table, but realised it can be done for less.

Across the public sector we need to do more for less where the service is important, and less for less where it is not.