---

Business of the House

Will my right hon. and learned Friend consider an early debate on Lloyds TSB's proposed takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland? That bank employs many thousand of people in Yorkshire, most of them in west Yorkshire in the area that my hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Mrs. Riordan) and I represent. We know that good things are happening, and we do not want HBOS to fail, but there is a feeling among parliamentarians in Yorkshire that we are not being kept in the loop. We need assurances that the many thousands of jobs in Yorkshire will be maintained under the new structure when it emerges.