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Banking Bill

Part of the powers in the special provisions Act related to certain contracts concerning Northern Rock—I think that that is also the case with Bradford & Bingley. In the Bill, we are following previous example in those terms. That reflects the fact that, as the House will appreciate, the special powers regime—and in this case the Bill—must be able to deal with circumstances where significant and rather dramatic action has to be taken. This legislation is close to the way in which the transfer of both Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley to the Treasury required that the shadow directorship provisions of the Companies Acts were disapplied. That followed a process not dissimilar to what we envisage in the clause. It does not quite fit the pattern of retrospection, but it does interfere with the common law.