Financial Markets

My Lords, I will write to the noble Lord about his highly detailed second question, to which I do not have an answer. However, it is becoming apparent that one or two local authorities which have the resources to be well advised are overcommitted to the Icelandic banks, and there will be inevitable costs involved in that. The Government have made it clear that they do not fit into the pattern of the ordinary depositor with the limited resources of expertise that they have available. I hope that the noble Lord will concentrate all his intellectual power and political activity as much on constructive solutions to the problems with which we are faced as on analysing those who got it wrong. We are all too clear about who has got it wrong and they ought not to get off scot free. The Government are making it clear that we need change to the system and that is what we will effect, but we need to concentrate a great deal more on how to repair the system than on identifying who was responsible for it going wrong. The Financial Services Authority and the Government expect that, with the substantial amount of resources being put into banks, some priorities will be identified that reflect the priorities of the nation. There is not the slightest doubt that small and medium-sized enterprises and owner-occupiers in distress need support.