Financial Markets

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for that question, to which there are two dimensions. I emphasise the fact that the Government are making this money available on proper terms and conditions on a commercial basis, so there will be a return to the taxpayer from the realisation of assets or the charging of commercial rates. Those returns will not be immediate in some cases, but the Government are concerned to ensure that the taxpayer’s interests are safeguarded. The other side of the noble Lord’s question—the concept of trickle-down—relates to whether the ordinary citizen will benefit directly from these arrangements. If nothing had been done and the financial system had gone into catastrophic collapse, that would have been felt in every home and business in the country. We are providing a structure that gives confidence back to the financial system and a basis on which banks can give loans to small businesses, which have a regular need for such loans, and on which mortgages are safeguarded for house owners. Those are the trickle-down effects, which we should all welcome.