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Banking in Scotland

Indeed, all that is true. However, I am in danger of becoming diverted. Far be it from me to allow that to happen. I look forward to hearing exchanges on such matters later. Our visit to Ireland was helpful and constructive. I want to put on the record that we were pleased that all those whom we met were prepared to be perfectly open with us and that they put everything that we asked for in front of us. That made the trip more interesting, enjoyable and educational than it might otherwise have been. It is clear that in Ireland there was a sort of crony capitalism, where everybody not only knew each other, but lent each other money. The housing prices in particular rocketed upwards to such an extent that when the crash came the central bank was not able to bail out those who found themselves in difficulty in quite the same way that we in the UK were able to. Scotland had the great advantage of being part of the Union and therefore the Bank of England was able to bail out the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland.