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Banking Bill

I support my noble friend. It may be appropriate to make one or two general remarks about the whole proposal for a Financial Stability Committee which seems to some extent to be based on an idea similar to the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. It is not clear where ultimate responsibility for financial stability rests. I would have thought it ought to be with the Government and the Treasury rather than with the Bank of England. The idea that you can somehow delegate this to a Committee, which will then decide what the strategy is, seems to be a mistake. My noble friend is right to say that the Government should start by deciding what the financial stability objective is. It is not clear why it must be left to a committee of this sort, with all the likely problems which the noble Lord, Lord Eatwell, mentioned such as whether the advice comes from one member of the tripartite group or another. Do the Government have a clear idea what they mean by financial stability and how do they see this Committee, if it is set up, relating to the Monetary Policy Committee as far as the overall economic management of the country is concerned?