Financial Markets

My right hon. Friend has raised that matter with me and quite rightly he is concerned about the position that his council faces. I refer him to what I have said a couple of times this afternoon: we need to resolve this matter, and I hope that we can make some progress. The discussions that I had with Iceland's Finance Minister were constructive. That is the best way to resolve the problem, so that we can ensure that people in the UK are not cut off from whatever Iceland's Government are doing within their own borders. On the general points made by my right hon. Friend, I come back to a point that has been raised many times this afternoon. Yes, we want to try to get back to a situation in which businesses can borrow from banks and banks feel confident to lend to them. Two things are necessary: we have to get through the blocking up of lending, which is what today's measures are designed to help with—it will take time, but it is an essential step—and we must ensure that we support the economy at this time, which we fully intend to do. Our economy has grown strongly for the past few years. Obviously, like the economies of other countries, our economy is slowing down, but we want to get through this period because that is the best way to support businesses, including the steel industry, in the longer term.