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Banking Bill

My Lords, I shall speak as chairman of the Delegated Powers Committee, which has expressed strong views on this matter. The Government’s proposals for giving themselves almost unlimited powers to rewrite the whole law of insolvency in relation to investment banks reminds me very much of the words of King Lear in his madness: "““I will do such things,— What they are yet I know not,—but they shall be The terrors of the earth””." It certainly seemed to us that Amendment 84 would create a proper balance between the need to act urgently in a crisis and the need for Parliament to give full scrutiny to legislation of serious importance. I am very pleased to know that discussions will continue on this. I hope that they will come to a satisfactory conclusion.