Pre-Budget Report

The hon. Gentleman should take his colleague, the hon. Member for Windsor, for a quiet tutorial and make that point to him. The banking community has been absent from this debate; people have put their heads under the radar. If they do not want inappropriate legislation and heavy regulation, they will have to engage in this issue and ensure that we get a system that works—that we go back to a market system that operates in the interests of everyone in society. If the hon. Member for Gainsborough (Mr. Leigh) can join me in calling for that, I will be very pleased for him to do so. Volatility and instability are at the core of the financial system at the moment. That is why the Treasury Committee has set up this inquiry. We are not saying that we should go back to the United States Banking Act of 1933 in its purest form; we are asking how we can make the system more stable and less volatile, and ensure that trust and confidence in the system is restored and that banks act in their own interests and those of their shareholders, the public, their customers, and society as a whole. One aspect that has been missing from this debate is the public—the debate has been between the City and the political community. That is why, along with my colleagues, the right hon. Member for Haltemprice and Howden (David Davis) and the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable), we have established the Future of Banking Commission, which has been supported by Which? and eminent economists such as Roger Bootle, John Kay and others. That is intended to give the public a voice so that their interests are looked after and safeguarded and we end up with an appropriate banking system that serves the interests of society—nothing less than that. Only by ensuring that that happens will we restore the trust and confidence in the system that we all desire.