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Bank of England (Amendment) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I intervene briefly in the gap, which gives me the chance to thank the noble Lord, Lord Saatchi, for introducing his Bill. We will have a very interesting Second Reading debate. I rise to put two questions in the context of the Bill to the Minister in the hope that he will have the chance to deal with them later. I will be very brief. Today, 8 May, is Europe Day, the day when the European flag and member states' flags are flying outside in Parliament Square. It would be nice if the European flag could stay up permanently, as it does in most other capitals of the member states of the European Union. I know that the Government are a bit nervous about that, but it would be appropriate. My second point refers to the European Central Bank and its announcement of a rate reduction yesterday as well as its reference to its future techniques of policy formation to deal with the current global and European financial and economic crisis. It referred to quantitative easing as one technique and instrument of control in future—the first time that that has been said; the ECB has not referred to that before. The Minister is not directly responsible for ECB policy in that sense, but the British Government closely co-ordinate with the ECB. There is also the relationship between those not in the eurozone and those who are members of it. Perhaps the Minister can give the House an account of how the Government feel that quantitative easing is going so far—the Bank of England has made recent reference to that—and what their reaction would be if the ECB started to proceed with the same kind of policy. That depends on the fascinating question of what kind of issuance of bonds that might involve and how long-term gilt yields and long-term ECB yields are to be perceived in this country. I hope that it is not unfair to ask the Minister about that because he does not have direct responsibility for it, but it is of crucial relevance to this country in considering this kind of legislation.