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Banking Bill

The Minister kindly prays me in aid in the approach that the Government are adopting to RBS, but he is not totally fair to do so. There is a gap between being a detailed manager and, as a representative of everybody in this country and as the major shareholder, when people generally have a view about how they want their banks to behave, there being a strong moral pressure on the Government to exercise very close control of the bank’s strategy through the directors appointed to its board. The country expects the Government to exercise that degree of control. As several noble Lords have said—although I do not presume to speak for the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell—we are trying to tease out the extent to which the Government accept that the country expects them, as a major shareholder, to exercise their power in that position to ensure that the bank is run to look after its customers and does not behave as it has in the past. If the bank is seen not to behave in that way, whatever the technicalities, the Government will be blamed for it.