Banking: Financial Stability

My Lords, the noble Lord raises an important point on small businesses. These issues have been to the forefront of the Government’s mind in the development of the proposals and the discussions with the banks. No Government could possibly guarantee that every small business and small investor in the country will receive the automatic benefit of the overall bank rate reduction which happily occurred earlier today. We do not control our banking system in that way, nor do we have any intention of doing so. But it is widely appreciated that such a significant cut in interest rates is meant to be to the benefit of small businesses, borrowers and mortgage holders. The noble Lord will appreciate that the banking system is all too well aware of its responsibilities.