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Pre-Budget Report

I will return to that point shortly, but may I just say that I believe that the steps that we took to recapitalise the banks were absolutely essential, because if we had not taken them, we might have been faced with the collapse of the banking system, as the Governor of the Bank of England has said. Secondly, we will have legally binding agreements with the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and with Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland, if that merger goes ahead, which will require them to maintain a level of lending. The right hon. Gentleman will no doubt welcome the statement by the RBS Group and NatWest at the weekend, in which they made it quite clear that they are ready and able to treat their business customers in a way that people will accept.