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Banking Bill

I am not sure that we are being entirely realistic about temporary public ownership. If we go by experience, we have the examples of Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, and those stories are not yet played out. But as I think the noble Lord, Lord Turnbull, said earlier, there are many ways in which these matters can turn out. In the case of Bradford & Bingley, it seems likely as a business judgment—we seem very much caught up with people such as the FSA or whoever having to make judgments in these varying circumstances—that the run-off of the mortgage book will leave nothing to go back into the private sector except possibly a bundle of assets which would probably be sold off at a rather speculative price. Indeed, in the case of Northern Rock, it seems quite possible, although not so likely, that something similar will happen. Although we have debated the word ““temporary”” we have nevertheless not really faced up to whether this is a matter of last resort, even if it is not so expressed in the Bill. When we say temporary public ownership, are we not actually looking at circumstances in which there is no realistic private sector recovery?