Banking: Financial Stability

My Lords, among a sea of debt, I offer some credit to the Government for this package. Perhaps the Minister can help me with one problem. Why is it that the Government are prepared to rescue, quite rightly, depositors who have placed their money in Icelandic bank accounts, where the responsibility is on the Icelandic Government, and why are they not prepared to say that there is a guarantee for depositors who have made their savings in banks in this country? I listened to the Chancellor on the radio this morning and he said that no one will be allowed to lose their deposit. That seems to me to be the same as providing a guarantee. If the Government would only say, ““Your savings are safe in the bank””, thousands of people throughout the country would stop worrying about their money. Why cannot the Government say this? Am I missing something?