Finance (No. 2) Bill

My Lords, perhaps I may help my noble friend by giving an example of a very dangerous toxic situation that was certainly inherited from the previous Government and of which the noble Lord, Lord Myners, is extremely aware: that is, the level of credit card debt in this country on which interest is being paid—I am not talking about the ordinary stuff that we pay off each month. That has not decreased. According to the Bank of England’s September figures, the level of credit that has been overrun is currently at £58 billion and interest is being paid at more than 15 per cent, which is £9 billion of interest due each year. The noble Lord, Lord Myners, was kind enough to write to all the banks asking them for details of what value they had on their books. Only one answered, and that was Barclays Bank—and I felt that it prevaricated in its answer. Does my noble friend agree that that is an example of the reservoir of potential toxicity that can make people very apprehensive about the fundamentals of Britain's economic situation?