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Banking (Special Provisions) Bill

I strongly support the amendment and agree with all the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, and by my noble friend. However, I would like to make one observation in respect of the requirement to audit. The noble Lord said that it is a good idea to find out what you are buying. I would say that it is a good idea to find out what you are buying before you make the purchase. In these circumstances, we will find out what we are buying after we have paid the money—although of course we do not know what the money is going to be. Looking at the test in the Bill, I suspect that it will be a very small sum indeed—almost zero, I should think. Clearly it is sensible that we should have a proper audit, so I want to ask the Minister one question: was an accountant’s report prepared for each of the bidders at an early stage? We had Mr Branson and various others. I find it difficult to believe that an accountant’s report was not prepared which set out the assets. Was such a report produced, and if so, why can it not be made available to us?