Financial Services Bill

I am not claiming that anyone in the House fully understood what was going to happen. However, I did warn in 2006—I do not remember a single member of the Government saying this—that an economy built on debt is an economy built on borrowed time. The hon. Gentleman might remember—he probably put them in his election address—all those claims about having abolished boom and bust and the economic cycle: about how Britain was better prepared and how this was a new age of stability. If he does not remember, let me reassure him that over the next few months we will be reminding him and his constituents of all the things that were said. The crucial point is that such was the regulatory regime of our banking system, and these were the people who were supposed to understand the risks that were being run. Although it is true, as of course the Chancellor said, that other countries have experienced some very severe problems with their banking sectors—the United States, the Netherlands, Belgium and so on—there are also examples of banking regulatory regimes that got it right. The Spanish banks are in much better shape than the British banks because the Spanish central bank banned some of the off-balance-sheet vehicles that became prolific in this country. The Canadian central bank imposed a leverage backstop, which was never considered here. The Australians, whose central bank pursued a "twin peaks" model of regulation, still have four double-A rated banks. There are examples of banking systems that got it right, while it is generally accepted that Britain's was the most exposed. Indeed, this morning we heard that Canada has come out of recession, which means that Britain is the last country in the G20 still in recession. That shows how exposed we have been.