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Banking Bill

I tabled Amendments 171 to 173 in order to debate my party’s proposals for a national loans guarantee scheme, which my honourable friend George Osborne launched last year to deal with the critical shortage of credit for business. The Government trashed our proposals at the time, then, two weeks ago, announced a pale shadow of them—the Government’s scheme being smaller, less bold and more bureaucratic. Last week, the Government announced a further package of measures affecting the banks and lending. We do not know whether they will work—the financial markets seem less than clear on that—and we remain concerned about credit in general, and in particular for those businesses that the measures announced do not wholly cover. We believe, then, that a national loans guarantee scheme ought to be introduced by the Government. However, in view of the constraints on the Committee today, I shall not be pursuing this and, accordingly, I shall not be moving Amendment 171. Amendment 171 not moved. Amendments 172 and 173 not moved.