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Banking: Financial Stability

My Lords, I congratulate the Government on what they are doing. Huge steps are being taken over here, and I think we all appreciate the efforts being made. I have three points for the Minister. With regard to preference shares, as the noble Lords, Lord Barnett and Lord Dearing, mentioned, have the Government considered convertible preference shares? The Minister said that there is no risk to the taxpayer, but surely the underlying loans mean that they could go bad, which means there will be a risk. The taxpayer should be rewarded for that risk. The second point, building on what the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, just said, is this: what will the implications be for the British economy of countries like Ireland giving a blanket 100 per cent guarantee? I have already heard of hundreds of millions of pounds, probably billions, that have been withdrawn. I have heard story after story of money taking flight because people want their money somewhere where the Government guarantee it 100 per cent. My final point is based on what the noble Lord, Lord Newby, said about small businesses. I have heard horror stories about banks calling in overdrafts, increasing terms and making life difficult for small businesses. Surely the implications of all this, looking ahead at the recession that unfortunately is probably coming, are that businesses are going to have to deal with it. What help can the Government give? They already have a small firms loan guarantee scheme; surely they can increase that multifold.