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Banking Bill

My Lords, I very much agree with all that my noble and learned friend Lord Morris of Aberavon and the noble Lord, Lord Goodlad, have said. Although retrospective legislation can be acceptable, as my noble and learned friend said, we should not take it lightly. I certainly do not like the idea of it. However, I make it quite clear that I have no love for either the financial geniuses or the bankers who have been running banks in recent months and years, so I would not be opposed to imposing legislation that would help us in relation to what has happened with the banks. Amendment 55 is much more modest than Amendment 54. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Howard of Rising, and his noble friend Lady Noakes on their assiduity on this Bill. They have worked very hard, which is much appreciated. However, the reason why I have not spoken so far in Committee or on Report is that they have gone so far, taking hours and hours, on technical amendments, when there are major issues to consider in relation to what the banks have done. I recognise that this is a large Bill that requires proper consideration, but we have taken all these hours, in Committee and on Report, on detailed legislation, when in practice things have been happening that we should be discussing and debating but have no time to do so. Let me mention one or two issues. There is the question of whether the banks are revising their lending habits. There is the question of whether quantitative easing—sometimes called printing money—should be carried out; some clever geniuses are suggesting that it should, as noble Lords will have seen in the press recently. There is the question of whether we should increase or reduce government debt, as the Opposition want. What is the Government’s strategy for banks? We are told by the FSA that the banks are repossessing on a vast scale: 1,000 houses a week are being repossessed. These are all major banking issues, which we have no time to debate. We are debating only these technical issues and I regret that we do not have more time to discuss the major issues. Having said that, and not wishing to delay the House any longer, I make it clear that I very much agree with what has been said so far. I look forward to my noble friend’s reply.