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

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth, West (Sir John Butterfill) on the progress he has made with his Bill. I have the privilege of being one of the co-sponsors, and I look forward to it getting on to the statute book—I am probably almost as excited as he is about that prospect. However, that does not mean that we should not use the opportunity presented to us today to get a little more clarity, particularly from the Government on what their intentions are as they will hold all the cards under the powers we will give them under the Bill. The fact that we have a decent chunk of time to discuss the Bill at this stage of the parliamentary Session is a great vindication of the decision taken a few years ago by a previous Leader of the House that we should have a sitting Friday after the long recess so that we can consider amendments from the other place to private Members' Bills that we in this House have carried through to Third Reading. Under the previous arrangements, when the last Friday sitting was at the end of July, it would not have been possible for the Bill to make progress with the amendments made in the other place. There used to be a vicious circle: because of the reluctance of the other place to make amendments that they knew would kill a Bill, Bills were less perfect than they would otherwise be. First, I should declare my interests, not only as a sponsor of the Bill but as someone who holds a mortgage with the Nationwide, which is a supreme example of a good mutual. I have my house insurance with the Liverpool Victoria, which I understand is a mutual insurer, and I have a great constituency interest in what we used to call the Portland building society—it has now been taken over by the Nationwide. Its headquarters are in my hon. Friend's constituency, which is, perhaps, one of the reasons he has developed a strong interest in this subject. I shall first discuss amendment No. 1. It was moved by Lord Evans of Temple Guiting on 10 July. At that stage, he was a member of the Government so he was speaking on behalf of the Government, but I understand he resigned on Wednesday. I am sure that the Minister will join me in paying tribute to his service, and in particular his contribution in helping to steer the Bill through the other place. He said that the overall purpose of the Bill was to ensure that there were"““helpful amendments to building societies legislation in relation to the wholesale funding limit and the position of their members in the event of an insolvency.””—[Official Report, House of Lords, 10 July 2007; Vol. 693, c. 1355.]" That is important. We discussed earlier in connection with safeguards what happens if a mutual organisation in our country is taken over by a mutual organisation outside the country and therefore outside the bounds of the regulatory control of our regulatory authorities, and that mutual then goes into insolvency. How will members based in the UK who are caught up in such a transfer be protected? It is important that the Minister gives us some assurances on that, particularly in the case of mutual insurance companies, which are much more vulnerable to the marketplace than building societies. The Minister whom I quoted was, of course, speaking before the Northern Rock crisis occurred.