Banking Bill

I am sorry, but I do not have the time. Other features of the Bill prompt the question of whether things are really moving. The Bank can now access the information that it needs for its role from the banking system, but it has to get all that information from the FSA—the FSA is given the power to share information with the Bank, and it is astonishing that it has not had that power for the past 10 years. We are putting in place a potential shambles, which a new Government will have to deal. I have no time to cover any other major points, but I want to conclude with one of them. We are dealing with the part-nationalisation of banks and we are in the extraordinary situation where we are about to take into public ownership a substantial part of the banking system. Ministers should therefore explain on what basis the Government will conduct their relationship with part-nationalised banks. My hon. Friend the Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie) raised that point earlier. Yesterday, we heard vague remarks about an arm's length arrangement for managing the shareholding and appointing the directors. There are serious worries about how we will work with nationalised banks, and that is why the taxpayer lost £2 billion in the markets yesterday. The only banks that went down on the markets were those that had been given the privilege of a Government investment. Why? The Government have not really explained why they have made such a move. The Government will appoint directors, which they did not seem to be thinking of doing last week when they first outlined their proposals. They will take ordinary shares, not just non-voting preference shares, as we were first told. There are also astonishing apparent targets for levels of mortgage lending and small business borrowing, which are quite inappropriate and will distort the markets if they are imposed. There is the whole question of why Lloyds TSB is still taking over HBOS, which would never have been permitted under the previous competition rules. Apparently, now that the bank is publicly owned it does not matter that it will have a dominant market share that two private banks would not have been allowed to amalgamate to obtain. Will the Government have a view on jobs in Scotland when the banks are rationalising their arrangements? Will the Government have a view on a bit of pork-barrel lending in the run-up to the election? They have to satisfy us that that is not true, but they cannot tell us what the mechanisms will be to prevent such activity. There are serious problems with the Bill. We are supporting it on an all-party basis because there is a pistol pointed at the nation's head and these powers are required. The Government will need to answer more questions, including questions about their record, before we are happy.