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Northern Rock

As I have told the House, if we had not intervened to save the bank last September and if it had gone down, there would have been a substantial risk of the problems that it had faced and the difficulties caused by its collapse affecting the rest of the banking system. We therefore intervened and we were right to do so, and as I have said, at that time we were supported in all parts of the House. I fully accept that the Conservative party moved from that position subsequently. In relation to the savers and depositors, we were right, too, to issue those guarantees, because we wanted to ensure that they would not lose their money. We have been successful in that, too. The third element is to ensure that we do the right thing by the taxpayers of this country. That is why I have made the proposals that I have made today—precisely to ensure that the taxpayer's interests are protected.