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Banking Bill

I feel privileged that this debate has been grouped with a stand-part debate, having started with a very modest probing amendment. I am sure that we are all grateful for the assurance that the position of individuals will be reconsidered, because that is what we are talking about and the clause does not really address that situation at all. Accrued rights in a sense make the person paid up when, perhaps because of luck and good negotiation, there is a second pension phase when the business for which he or she works is transferred to a new owner. The Minister referred to the contrast between, in negotiation, being held to ransom and what I might wish to describe as a reasonable deal. In this circumstance, we should not overemphasise this rapidity point. It is slightly reinventing the wheel. There have been many circumstances in which it has been necessary for groups of companies to sell in a fairly distressed situation its subsidiaries. They have had to have negotiations during those sale proceedings about what will happen to the membership of pension schemes. I do not think that there is anything much new in the circumstance of a failing bank. I have had experience of taking over a company that was not in a very good condition. Of course, there needed to be negotiation about what would happen to the pension rights of the people in that company. I believe that there is a need for further thought to be put into this clause and, in putting further thought into it, I hope, along with quite a lot of the other provisions of this Bill, that the dice have not been loaded too much in favour of an easier life for the Bank of England or the Treasury. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 115A withdrawn.