Building Societies (Funding) and Mutual Societies (Transfers) Bill

I fully understand the hon. Gentleman's desire to clarify on the record the position of those on the Conservative Front-Bench. For the avoidance of doubt, and because I know from painful experience that irony translates poorly in Hansard, let me reaffirm to the good people of the United Kingdom that I believe that, on balance, I am still more pro-European than the hon. Gentleman. There is, however, an inescapable reality to do with harmonisation. In respect of any such proposed legislation it will be necessary for judgments to be made in the application of regulations in cases of potential mergers. So long as there is not a harmonised system of regulations explicitly defining the terms of mutuality and associated matters across the EU, we will have to depend on the common sense of those interpreting the regulations when a merger is proposed. An interesting point was made about credit unions, but that highlights just one of a number of situations in which there could be a grey area and the legislation would have to be interpreted according to specific circumstances. I do not believe that it is possible to frame such proposed legislation so explicitly as to cover in black-and-white terms every possible eventuality. I seek the Minister's guidance on this: will she furnish us with her judgment on whether, when the legislation is applied, there will still need to be a degree of interpretation? In the real world, I expect there will be few circumstances in which such uncertainties arise. In the majority of cases, the arguments will be so clear and the mergers so well defined in established precedent that we will not have such a problem. It is also my experience that when we in this House analyse proposed legislation we often over-emphasise potential problems and undervalue the benefits of having professionals making judgments. Although I hope the Minister can give some clarification on the issues I have raised, overall the amendments are sensible, as they have been framed with the industry in mind. There is also the ultimate insurance policy: when such mergers are proposed, the members will vote on them.