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Investment Exchanges and Clearing Houses Bill

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second Time. I start by expressing my gratitude for the close co-operation that we have enjoyed in preparing today’s Bill—from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban), from the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable), from their spokesperson colleagues in the other place, and from other interested stakeholders across the City of London, particularly the recognised exchanges themselves, with whom we have been able to discuss the Bill in recent weeks. I hope that we can demonstrate today to the outside world that—perhaps unusually for this place—we have been able to reach a consensus in the national interest on the way forward on this important issue: both inside this House with Opposition Members, and outside it among practitioners in the City. I am also grateful for Members’ co-operation in allowing us to move the Bill quickly through its Commons stages and detailed scrutiny this afternoon, in what are unusual circumstances. As Opposition and other Members will know, the Bill fulfils the commitment that I gave in a written statement to the House on 13 September to enhance the power of the Financial Services Authority to veto changes to the rules of UK-recognised investment exchanges and clearing houses where they are deemed disproportionate.