Banking Bill

If the hon. Gentleman allows me, I shall make some progress. I want to move on to new clause 2, which has been tabled by my hon. Friends the Members for Stroud (Mr. Drew) and for West Bromwich, West (Mr. Bailey). The circumstances in respect of the new clause include cases in which a building society has been or is subject to a transfer of securities or properties under the relevant sections of the Banking (Special Provisions) Act 2008, cases in which it is participating in the bank recapitalisation scheme announced by the Chancellor, and cases in which it is subject to the stabilisation options provided for in part 1 of the Bill. First and foremost, I want to assure my hon. Friends that the Government value the contribution made by the mutual sector to financial services and that we are genuinely committed to preserving mutuality. We need to have other debates, so I hope that I can briefly convince my hon. Friends that the new clause is not needed. First, I stress that a bank's conversion to mutual status, including the remutualisation of a former building society, is already possible under existing legislation. It could be achieved by the transfer of the property and liabilities of the bank to a building society—an existing one, or one newly created for the purpose. What happened with Bristol and West is an example of that procedure. It was a former building society that was sold to Britannia and thereby remutualised. Further regulations enabling the process in the particular circumstances to which the new clause refers are simply not necessary. The powers are already there. I hope that I have given my hon. Friends the reassurances that they seek.