European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I should point out to the noble Baroness that the head, which was being shaken, not nodded, was that of the noble Lord, Lord Blackwell, who has certain experience in these matters, as do I. I have spent my life in the City of London in the real marketplace; I do not believe that the same is true of the noble Baroness. If noble Lords are in any doubt about this, they should take the trouble to read the publication by Open Europe, a mildly Eurosceptic organisation, entitled Selling the City Short? A Review of the EU’s Financial Services Action Plan. That document details that the mere cost of transposing these directives into British law will be some £23 billion over the next four years. It does not attempt to quantify the damage that will be done to the City of London when practitioners, particularly in the wholesale markets, vacate the City of London for New York, Singapore, Dubai and elsewhere. So I must answer the noble Baroness: yes, I do mean that. I mean that the financial services action plan looks to me, as far as I can see at the moment, as though it will destroy the City of London and the benefit which that confers on this country.