---

Banking Bill

We are in danger of becoming a conversation—one Member stands up, then the Minister stands up, then another Member stands up and so on—which is not the normal way of going about it. We greatly appreciate the Minister’s enthusiasm but our progress would be a little more orderly if he perhaps waited until everyone had had their say. The idea that the Bank of England will decide what the penalties ought to be seems the wrong way of going about it. We ought to be given an explanation of what the offences are likely to be and the consequences of non-compliance, and then fit some sort of limit. As the provision stands—I welcome the fact that we will come back to it on Report; the House will certainly need to do that—we have no idea whether the Government envisage penalties of £1 million, £1 billion or £1 trillion. We have not the remotest idea of what size they think the penalty might need to be to ensure compliance in an important matter.