10 Despite having a new source of tax and licence revenue, governments faced pressures in their finances, both because of strong demand for infrastructure spending and sharply rising costs of providing it. In 1853, for example, the Victorian Government spent £ 000 on roads, compared with £ 000 two years earlier. 11 Governments therefore resorted to borrowing, which they did through London markets.
I will discuss the SSM more in detail in a while. Before that, let me go to the third element of the Banking Union which should be the establishment of a Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM). An important pre-condition for this would be a swift adoption of the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRR), as it lays out a harmonised toolbox of resolution powers.