Financial Services Bill

That approach is part of the thinking that the world will move to in terms of international adoption of recovery and resolution plans. But you need to respect the firewalls between the different parts of the group. The firewall between Lehman Brothers and Lehman Brothers International Europe in London was not of two companies with separate capitalisation, separate management and a separate sense of who obligations lay to. There was a fungibility within the group which undoubtedly has contributed to some of the challenges in resolving both Lehman Brothers and Lehman Brothers International Europe. As I was saying to the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, in some ways the noble Lord is right. We are still too close to the crisis to see all the implications of what has happened. We have here an architecture for building a safer system built around the Council for Financial Stability. I do not know what to say in response to the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, saying that the Conservative Party does not have a view on the structure of the banking system and the structure of banks. I can only assume that that is some euphemism to cover the various volte-faces that we have seen in past thinking. There are those on the Conservative Benches, including the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, who have no doubt about having a view on this. Perhaps Mr Osborne should take some time out to listen to the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, on these points.