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Banking Bill (Money)

I understand the Government's problem. Throughout the passage of the Bill, we have been discussing events that we hope will never happen, but we are trying to create certainty in case they do. The Government might not intend to use these clauses retrospectively, or indeed to amend the primary legislation. However, this Government might not be in power when a problem occurred; we might be in the fifth term of the prime ministership of my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) when such circumstances arose—you never know. We want to ensure that there is as much clarity as possible. One of my concerns is the use of statutory instruments. I sit on the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, which meets every week. We look at hundreds and hundreds of orders, the vast majority of which deal with minor matters in which specific regulations are being put in place that are clearly contained in the primary legislation. I fear, however, that the Bill could create a method whereby a future Government could amend the primary legislation by having a one-and-a-half hour debate in a Committee room and that, by the time the Front Benchers had spoken and perhaps two Back Benchers had said something, the whole matter would have been voted on. With statutory instruments, there is no opportunity to amend the regulation. We are talking about a really serious matter here, and it would be much better for the Government to introduce further primary legislation if they wanted to make a major change. This is a Henry VIII clause. I understand that the Minister wants some flexibility, and that he does not expect his Government to use the measure unfairly, but in 20, 30 or 40 years, someone could look back on this legislation and say, ““Ooh! We can do this just by passing a statutory instrument!”” That appears to be the situation, although I see the Minister shaking his head vigorously, so perhaps I have misunderstood it. However, many of the amendments seem to consist of fine words that do not go to the heart of the matter.