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Banking Bill

It has been worth all the hours of waiting to be able to take part in this debate and support the amendment. I say that it has been worth the wait because the first wait for a National Girobank took 40 years. My organisation—in which I declare an interest, and which was for Post Office workers at the time—agitated and argued for what became the people’s bank, the National Girobank. So a few hours out of a January evening is not very much when we think of what is at stake. My noble friend Lord Hoyle has just mentioned the Girobank. The question of a people’s bank, or a publicly owned bank which could operate within our Post Office organisation, has already been answered. The proposition is feasible. It was tried, tested and found to work successfully when the National Girobank was created in 1968—and then almost given away in 1990 because of political dogma. I have no problem with political dogma. The then Conservative Government wanted to sell it, so they sold it. They did not like it but they did it. I would argue that now that we have a Labour Government, the Government should resurrect it. Just before Christmas I asked the Minister whether he thought that, "““the highly popular, efficient and straightforward banking service provided by the Post Office through the National Girobank was a very successful operation””." I said: "““It was a tragedy when it was … sold off … for £118 million. At that time thousands of people were waiting to open accounts at National Giro””." The Minister said that he would give the matter further consideration, and I asked whether he would consider reintroducing it. He said: "““I take note of what my noble friend has said. In the first instance I am going to convene a group of government departments to identify the potential additional work that the Post Office may do. There are opportunities there and we want to examine them closely””.—[Official Report, 13/11/08; cols. 789-790.]" It is late but I am pleased that I have stayed to hear this amendment being moved. I have no doubt that there will be other occasions when we can tell the whole sorry story of the sale of Girobank at a knock-down price. For tonight, or this morning, I simply ask my noble friend to agree to look at the possibility of resurrecting what was a reliable, efficient and growing bank at the time that it was effectively destroyed. It served ordinary folk then and it could do so again. It will not take long, as the evidence is there. I commend the article that appeared in the Scotsman soon after the sale took place. I was concerned that no other newspaper in this country carried the story. The accuracy of the financial shenanigans surrounding the sale of Girobank needs to be looked at. If I win the lottery I will get a student to write a thesis—I do not have the time. As I said, there will probably be other times when the story can be told, but for this evening I shall simply support the amendment.