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Banking Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for setting out the Government’s objections to my modest amendment, which was designed to get the Treasury to say what it thought ““temporary”” meant in any individual case. The Minister said that, if the Treasury did that, it would signal an intention that it might be forced to change. Well, exactly. There is nothing wrong with it changing, but the Treasury should then be accountable to Parliament and others for that change of tack. At the moment, such information is kept out of public view unless it is dragged out of the Treasury, probably before the Treasury Select Committee in another place. There is no other forum for examining the Treasury’s actions and intentions because there is nothing on the public record against which the Treasury can be judged. At the end of the day, I suppose that we will find out whether temporary public ownership will certainly end, as the Minister put it.