Financial Services Bill

My hon. Friend does the House a service by reminding us of those exchanges during our evidence session because we saw the creation of a sense of confusion. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the Minister had been robust about shared responsibility during our morning sitting, but it had all rather fallen apart by the afternoon. Let me add to the quotes that my hon. Friend has cited. Andrew Whittaker said:""We, for our part, recognise that our role in relation to financial stability is, in some senses, a secondary one to the other authorities. If there were to be a disagreement as to what would be needed for financial stability, it is inconceivable that we would wish to second-guess the views of the other authorities in that respect."" When I asked Mr. Footman,""Do you think that there is someone who is first among equals in the three-way committee?"," he said:""The obvious answer is that only one person in that committee is directly accountable to Parliament, and that is the Chancellor."––[Official Report, Financial Services Public Bill Committee, 8 December 2009; c. 28-29, Q58 and Q62.]" There is confusion about the roles, and I do not think that the Minister allayed it when we probed the matter in Committee.