---

Banking Bill (Money)

I shall focus on three main areas in response to hon. Members' comments on the Lords amendments. The first is the widening of the extension of statutory cover for expenditure incurred by the Treasury or other Government Departments; the second is the parliamentary accountability mechanisms ordinarily in place; and the third is the Government motion to disagree with Lords amendment 83, which has been much debated. In passing, however, I would first like to deal with the accusation that the Government delayed taking action to support Northern Rock. I completely refute that: the Government took timely action—[Interruption.]—and let me point out that the official Opposition would have let Northern Rock fail, which would have created a crisis for savers in this country. We were entirely right in what we did. The role of the media, which the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) and the hon. Member for South-East Cornwall (Mr. Breed) mentioned, is another important issue to deal with in passing. It is true to say that we live in a 24-hour news culture in the UK. In that environment, it is not possible to have the sort of cosy relationship that might have existed in the past between the Bank of England and other banks or to justify the expectation that cosy deals can be done and kept secret. Extensive scrutiny takes place through the media. On the whole it is helpful, but the right hon. Member for Wokingham was right to point out that, on some occasions, media speculation has resulted in damaging activity—damaging to markets and damaging to companies' reputations.