Banking (Special Provisions) Bill

My recollection of the Lloyds bank indication of interest was that it asked for a considerable amount of money from the Government, and that it kept going up. That showed that it would be difficult to sell Northern Rock, and it proved to be impossible. Most hon. Members would agree that we cannot continue with Northern Rock as it is. It clearly could not continue with the business model that it had because it was a bankrupt model both metaphorically and almost literally. The third option that the Government explored was that of trying to sell the bank. They found that they could not sell it, other than at a ridiculously low price. The option before us, which is enabled but not carried out by the Bill, is to nationalise Northern Rock. That seems the sensible option, because the only other one that is talked about—it is discussed in rather woolly, vague terms by the official Opposition—is putting Northern Rock into administration and winding it up. In administration, the administrator tries to sell the business as a going concern, either wholly or in part. We know that the business cannot realistically be sold as a whole as a going concern, because the Government tried to do that for five months and could not. The alternative way of proceeding in administration, which the official Opposition are suggesting, is to wind down the business to shut it down. When they talk glibly about administration, they are not open about the fact that that, realistically, is the route that they would take. They say, ““The administrator will carry on and do what he or she can.”” He or she cannot sell it, ergo they will wind it down and eventually close it. Nationalisation, which is foreshadowed in the Bill, is a much better option.