Banking (Special Provisions) Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this excellent debate and I accept, in the spirit in which it is intended, the sympathy for my position expressed, most recently by the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, and by the noble Earl, Lord Ferrers. Indeed, I think that the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, sympathised with the position I am in. The sympathy is somewhat wasted because most of those who voiced it have felt the heat of the kitchen themselves and therefore know only too well that that is what Ministers are paid to respond to, and I intend to do so. With a Bill of this kind, the issues are marginally more rushed than is usual with our legislation, and we are all having to adjust to the fact that while I am responding to the Second Reading speeches this evening, inevitably we will return to many of these points tomorrow morning when we deal with the Committee stage. I shall come to the detailed points, but first let us get down to the fundamentals. I start by making the obvious point that no one needs much sympathy at this Dispatch Box when they are supported by the speeches of my noble friends, whom I congratulate on the high level of their contributions and their constructive approach to the issues. That is a contrast with all the speeches from the Official Opposition. They have been mightily critical of the actions of the Government without themselves articulating any conceivable strategy for how to deal with this problem, and that is the biggest contrast. My noble friend Lord Lipsey summed it up by saying that all noble Lords on my side of the House and, I hope, many others will support this legislation while regretting its necessity, because of course it reflects dire circumstances. Speakers for the Official Opposition rather like the mud that is around and think it may well stick to the Government. They have indicated that they intend largely to oppose the legislation tomorrow. I want to emphasise that the Government have taken the right decision to take Northern Rock into a period of temporary public ownership. The noble Lord, Lord Bell, was not the only noble Lord to suggest that what the Government are doing is lurching back to the joys of the early 1980s with their enthusiasm for Clause 4 and widespread nationalisation. I believe that the noble Lord, Lord Marland, indicated much the same. Both noble Lords have failed to take into account the criticism expressed by most other noble Lords on their Benches, which has been to ask why the Government have been ““dithering””—that was the word they used—by trying to find a private sector solution over the past months. At least the Liberal Democrat Benches have been consistent in their position. Most noble Lords on the Opposition Benches have argued that point when of course it was clear that what the Government were seeking to do was indeed to obtain a private solution to this problem. The noble Lord, Lord Best, has left it a bit late to try to argue the case both ways, if that is what he is trying to do.