Banking (Special Provisions) Bill

My Lords, I can hardly believe my ears. The Minister has responded to this by indicating that this was an emergency procedure for an emergency. All along we have been told that this legislation was general but was related to Northern Rock. We have known about the circumstances of Northern Rock for some time—the Government have been negotiating for five months—so why do they have difficulty with this amendment, which would simply require the framework document to be laid before the House at the same time as the order was made? I would have thought that was perfectly reasonable. The argument that this is some kind of emergency procedure takes us way beyond what the Minister has been telling us at the earlier stages of the Bill.