Financial Markets

No; I do not entirely agree with the right hon. Gentleman. I do think that it is unfortunate, but I think I am right in saying that every building society that demutualised now either belongs to or has merged with someone else, or is not around any more. On the other hand, it has to be said that, if we look back to even a short time ago, the number of products available and the competition in the system were far greater than in the past. It is important that we have a proper, competitive mortgage market, but I do not agree with what the right hon. Gentleman says about Lloyds TSB and HBOS. That is a decision that the boards of those two companies have taken, and that is the right way to proceed. They need to take commercial decisions. Of course we will have directors on the boards, because of our very substantial financial stake, but people have tried in the past to ensure that the structure of the market and the number of people in it do not change, and it simply does not work.