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Banking Bill

I am certainly not unsympathetic to the concerns that lie behind the amendment. However, without trying to scotch the amendment in any sense, I point out that this is an exceedingly difficult process to provide for by statute. An amendment such as this would not function along the lines that its sponsors would like to see. As has been pointed out, there can be some public interest appointment to a remuneration committee but, if there is no statutory back-up to what that person does or how the remuneration committee acts in the light of the contribution from that source, the chances of the amendment being converted into the sort of action that its sponsors would like to see are not very great. I do not say that in a negative sense at all. I say it merely to point out that, in terms of corporate governance and process, it is an immensely complicated business to provide the sort of outcome that is sought. However, I would not wish to discourage people from working at it and, in either this or another context, coming up with something that is a little more likely to be effective in practice.