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Northern Rock

None of us knows exactly what would happen because none of us has been exposed to the details of the bank's position. The Bank of England will not tell us and we do not have the resources to carry out the due diligence on the company. There is, of course, the possibility, which I have just alluded to, of temporary nationalisation—as has happened historically and as occurred with a small national mortgage bank that was temporarily nationalised and resold very successfully under the Major Government. It was a small enterprise, but it did happen. The whole point is to provide some legal and institutional stability in the hope that, in the end, not only will the taxpayer be repaid but any increase in the value of the bank from its currently depressed market conditions will accrue to the taxpayer. That is the objective.