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Banking Bill

We set up the valuer in an independent role to carry out this important exercise. In making that arrangement, we indicated that if he found that he had inadequate powers to fulfil the task, he could quite reasonably come back to us. He, in turn, identified where he was having difficulty with the information that he sought. Within that framework, we thought that we might be able to given him sufficient powers under the Special Powers Act. It was made fairly clear to us that an order under that Act would not necessarily be acceptable to the House. We are therefore using the Bill for consideration of the matter and to put it on a statutory footing. I emphasise the obvious fact that this is a response to a request from a person seeking to do his job, who has been appointed to act independently and to reach those judgments. It is not for the Government to second-guess him.