Dormant Bank and Building Society Accounts Bill [Lords]

I beg to move amendment No. 9, page 14, line 36, leave out subsections (1) and (2) and insert— If the amendment is agreed to, part 1 of the Bill will come into force next year on the first working day after the new year bank holidays and weekend in all parts of the United Kingdom, and part 2 will come into force at the beginning of the next financial year. The amendment is absolutely a probing one, and I anticipate that the Minister will say that there are technical reasons why the Bill cannot come into force as quickly as I suggest. My amendment is really designed to do two things. First, it says that we should get on with things once Royal Assent is over. Secondly, it seeks to encourage the Minister to give us a helpful answer on how soon we can get on with things. The Minister may be obliged to resist the two dates that I have suggested, but it would be useful if he could say when—if there were a fair wind and everybody was helpful—the earliest dates for the Bill’s implementation could be. If he did that, it would encourage people in the industry to get on with things, make people understand that the Government are serious in their intent and allow beneficiaries to see that the opportunity is not one of ““jam tomorrow””, but ““jam really quite soon””. It would also be in everybody’s political interest, because some time between now and June 2010 there has to be a general election. The Government have a motive for getting on with the legislation; that would be in their interest and in the general public interest.