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Banking Bill

My Lords, I said when we debated it at a late hour in Committee that I would return to this amendment. Although my noble friend Lord Davies is always eloquent and well informed, he generalised on what the position is now rather than being more radical and going for a national or people’s bank. However, I was pleased to see in the press at the weekend, which one must sometimes read to learn what is being thought, that we have the support of my noble friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. I saw him here a little while ago; I thought he might be coming to hear this debate. However, the press was saying that he was in favour of a people’s bank, so I hope that I am pushing at an open door tonight. I shall listen with great interest to what my noble friend has to say when he replies. I emphasise again that we are talking about a fully fledged bank that could provide all the financial services. That is a radical step, so I hope that we are going down that route. There is no doubt that many people trust the Post Office who do not trust banks. Indeed, they would not even contemplate going to a bank. This will provide those disadvantaged people with that opportunity. It will also bring banking facilities to rural areas. In many cases, no bank is available to them for miles. It will certainly help the elderly, people with disabilities, mothers with children and, of course, those who do not have a car. It would be a great advantage. We are talking about providing 12,000 branches. The benefits will not only be in rural areas, but the deprived urban areas where many of the most disadvantaged people in our community live. These are people who do not have the advantages of others such as full banking facilities, going online, paying by direct debit or settling bills in one way or another. It is estimated that the poorest in our society are roughly £1,400 per year worse off because they do not have such facilities. On deprived city areas, I do not think that my noble friend referred to the Post Office card account, which should be modified. It is currently only about withdrawing money that the Government have deposited. We want to see it extended to give its customers a fundamental basic bank account. That would certainly help them. The other people it would help are the small and medium-sized businesses that use the post office. Such businesses would derive even more benefit if a people’s bank was established. We all know that the Government are talking about getting banks lending again. This would certainly be a positive step in that direction. It would get things on the move in that regard. I do not think that I need discuss again what form this bank should take except to say that we might consider the merger of the Britannia and the Co-op, which deals in ethical banking. However, there are positive signs in the press in this regard. I look forward to my noble friend’s reply. I beg to move.