---

Banking Bill

Let me answer the point that the hon. Gentleman raised in his intervention. The Prime Minister talks about international co-operation between regulatory systems. Of course, no one is against that, but an international system will not regulate the sale of sub-prime mortgages in Alabama; we will have to rely on the US regulatory system to do that. Nor will an international system prevent the sale of mortgages in this country to people who cannot afford it when house prices turn down. That was part of the problem with Bradford & Bingley, as was the closure of the wholesale markets. Of course we want greater co-operation, but surely the regulatory system that we are hoping to design—not just by means of the Bill, but perhaps through future legislation—would help us to deal with the situation that has developed over the past year and prevent it from happening again. If the hon. Gentleman does not want to prevent it from happening again, that is rather bizarre.