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Opposition day on Wednesday, 12 December 2007, in the House of Commons, led by Vincent Cable. The answering member was Baroness Ussher.

Northern Rock

Northern Rock and the banking system. Fourth Opposition Day debate (part 2). Main question negatived on division (60 to 304). Amendment agreed to on division (290 to 222).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
469 c371-426 
Session
2007-08
Department
Treasury
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 469 c371 (Link to this contribution) I must tell the House that Mr. Speaker has selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister ...
Mark Hoban | 469 c388 (Link to this contribution) After all the headlines and hype of the last few days, I had expected the leader of the Liberal Demo...
Show all contributions (129)
Baroness Ussher | 469 c386 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that we can make our position any clearer than we already have: we have set out three ...
John Grogan | 469 c386 (Link to this contribution) But have the Government set a deadline to secure a private sale, given that the liabilities are moun...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c386 (Link to this contribution) I promised to give way to the hon. Member for Richmond Park (Susan Kramer). I will give way to my ho...
Baroness Kramer | 469 c386 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for giving way. Her last statement was almost too much. Does she not understan...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c386-7 (Link to this contribution) No, there is no specific deadline. We have asked the company to come back to us by February 2008; th...
Julia Goldsworthy | 469 c387 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady spoke earlier of the fact that the Treasury still had all options on the table. Can sh...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c388 (Link to this contribution) No, as I am coming to the end of my speech. The alternative of letting Northern Rock go down would h...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) I should like to make a little more progress, and then I shall give way to the right hon. Gentleman....
Philip Dunne | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) Will the Economic Secretary confirm that the security package includes Northern Rock's seller's shar...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) The assets against which the Bank of England's loan to Northern Rock was secured include a number of...
Lord Beith | 469 c385 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Lady seen a list of the assets, including the Granite element, which totals the full am...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c385 (Link to this contribution) I do not think it appropriate to embark on a running commentary on the number of assets on Northern ...
Lord Beamish | 469 c385 (Link to this contribution) Does the Economic Secretary agree that one of the priorities now is to ensure that Northern Rock con...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c385 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. As I listened to the contribution of the hon. Member for Twickenham, it occurred t...
Baroness Kramer | 469 c385 (Link to this contribution) Will the Economic Secretary give way?
Baroness Ussher | 469 c385-6 (Link to this contribution) I will press on, because I have some important points to make, but I will give way to the hon. Lady ...
Rob Marris | 469 c390 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. Perhaps we can clarify the situation. The shadow Chancellor, in...
Mark Hoban | 469 c390-2 (Link to this contribution) At the time, we said clearly that it was a great analysis, but that we did not accept the policy rec...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c392 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mark Hoban | 469 c389 (Link to this contribution) The Government, and the Chancellor when he gave evidence to the Treasury Committee—I shall come back...
Rob Marris | 469 c389-90 (Link to this contribution) May I caution the hon. Gentleman and the Conservatives to be a little careful about being wise after...
Mark Hoban | 469 c390 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman misunderstands the nature of the report. It was a series of proposals for the par...
Rob Marris | 469 c390 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way, as he called me disingenuous?
Doug Henderson | 469 c380 (Link to this contribution) I am not taking sides regarding which bidder is best—[Interruption.] I am not. However, does the hon...
Vincent Cable | 469 c379-80 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. His intervention underlines the reason why, historically s...
Lord Beith | 469 c378 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is underlining the tragedy of Northern Rock. Traditionally, it was based on the relat...
Vincent Cable | 469 c378 (Link to this contribution) We are dealing with a very specific case where the Government have already advanced £30 billion, and...
Vincent Cable | 469 c380 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that Sir Brian Pitman is absolutely admirable. He is a 75-year-old ex-banker with a formid...
Philip Dunne | 469 c377 (Link to this contribution) In relation to the risk committee and the audit committee, is the hon. Gentleman in a position to co...
Rob Marris | 469 c378 (Link to this contribution) May I turn the hon. Gentleman's ““what if”” question around? What would happen if there were such a ...
Vincent Cable | 469 c377-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will have to explain how the bank managed to expand its business so rapidly in th...
Lord Beamish | 469 c377 (Link to this contribution) I am very interested in what the hon. Gentleman is doing. He is continuing to run down the bank, whi...
Vincent Cable | 469 c377 (Link to this contribution) I believe that that was indeed the case. The optimism that I described rests upon the fact that the...
Vincent Cable | 469 c375 (Link to this contribution) May I move on? I have been generous with interventions. At this point, it will be useful to summari...
Vincent Cable | 469 c375-7 (Link to this contribution) The taxpayer is already heavily implicated in the company. Its liabilities include the deposits, whi...
Fraser Kemp | 469 c375 (Link to this contribution) Presumably, the hon. Gentleman has done some calculations on his proposal for nationalisation. What ...
Vincent Cable | 469 c377 (Link to this contribution) The directors who were directly responsible for those functions have now been removed, but that was ...
Viscount Thurso | 469 c377 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has already highlighted the executive failings. Before he leaves the assessment of th...
Vincent Cable | 469 c374 (Link to this contribution) Taxpayers are already committed to the hilt; they have already advanced staggering sums. In normal c...
Lord Redwood | 469 c374 (Link to this contribution) As one who has set out a positive alternative if the bids do not produce a satisfactory result, may ...
Vincent Cable | 469 c375 (Link to this contribution) I am not being in the least dismissive of small shareholders. However, when people buy shares, they ...
Peter Atkinson | 469 c374-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has been dreadfully dismissive of the small shareholders, of whom there are 140,0...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) All the lending is secured against the assets of Northern Rock. That is my understanding of the situ...
Lord Hammond of Runnymede | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) Will the Economic Secretary confirm that all the lending is secured by a fixed charge over such asse...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) I should like to make a little more progress, and then I shall give way. Our intervention was widel...
Philip Dunne | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) Will the Economic Secretary give way?
Baroness Ussher | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for my hon. Friend's intervention. I have been slightly confused by the Liberal Democr...
Roberta Blackman-Woods | 469 c384 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that the comments made by the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable), in ...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c383-4 (Link to this contribution) I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply that I have just given. He is entitled to his view, but I be...
Stewart Hosie | 469 c383 (Link to this contribution) The Economic Secretary's answer to the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) was not wholly s...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c383 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is entitled to his view, but most people feel that the real problem with Northern...
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown | 469 c383 (Link to this contribution) Was not the real cause of Northern Rock's problem that whereas the Federal Reserve and the European ...
Vincent Cable | 469 c382 (Link to this contribution) I am rounding off. Finally, there is a strong additional reason for wanting to park the problem of ...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c382-3 (Link to this contribution) I will give way later, but not now. The banking sector also entered this period on the back of a pe...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c382 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move, To leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"“...
Vincent Cable | 469 c381 (Link to this contribution) None of us knows exactly what would happen because none of us has been exposed to the details of the...
Philip Dunne | 469 c381 (Link to this contribution) I recognise that the hon. Gentleman's preference, like ours, is for a private sale. However, in adva...
Vincent Cable | 469 c381-2 (Link to this contribution) It is partly what the Bank of England has been trying to do, but not very successfully. If the Bank ...
Lord Redwood | 469 c381 (Link to this contribution) Why does the hon. Gentleman ignore the fourth option, which involves the Bank of England acting as a...
Vincent Cable | 469 c380-1 (Link to this contribution) I very much hope that the first proposition is indeed realised. That would be the most desirable out...
Jim Cousins | 469 c380 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman's purpose in advocating nationalisation to enable Northern Rock to survive as ...
Lord Beamish | 469 c373 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman at one with the leader of the Liberal Democrats on Newcastle city council who,...
Vincent Cable | 469 c373 (Link to this contribution) I am a strong fan of the leader of Newcastle city council. The Liberal Democrat group runs that city...
Lord Beamish | 469 c373 (Link to this contribution) One thing that Councillor John Shipley is not doing is talking the bank down or trying to talk the r...
Vincent Cable | 469 c374 (Link to this contribution) My colleague reinforces my point. I am sure we shall hear what the official Opposition have to say. ...
Doug Henderson | 469 c374 (Link to this contribution) I understand theoretically some of the points that the hon. Gentleman is making, and I have read the...
Vincent Cable | 469 c374 (Link to this contribution) I will come to those points. However, I should say in passing that there is an issue with the small ...
Vincent Cable | 469 c373 (Link to this contribution) The council did that on an all-party basis and was right to do so, given the bank's past contributio...
David Drew | 469 c373 (Link to this contribution) I, for one, congratulate the hon. Gentleman on calling the debate. Did he consider another option—th...
Vincent Cable | 469 c373-4 (Link to this contribution) That is a helpful intervention, with which I have a great deal of sympathy. I used to be involved in...
Steve Webb | 469 c374 (Link to this contribution) Reflecting on the constructive contribution of the official Opposition, what conclusions has my hon....
Jim Cousins | 469 c372 (Link to this contribution) I have studied that document, too. Has the hon. Gentleman looked closely at the last part of it, whi...
Vincent Cable | 469 c372 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman is basing his hopes on a sound business plan from the private bidders, I fear ...
Speaker | 469 c371 (Link to this contribution) I must tell the House that Mr. Speaker has selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister ...
Vincent Cable | 469 c371-2 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House notes with dismay that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has presided o...
Viscount Thurso | 469 c395 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Doug Henderson | 469 c394-5 (Link to this contribution) I start with the Conservatives. The idea that if Northern Rock is forced into administration or nati...
Mark Hoban | 469 c393-4 (Link to this contribution) The problem is that we have not heard from the Minister—and certainly not from the Liberal Democrats...
Julia Goldsworthy | 469 c394 (Link to this contribution) The Minister said that all options were on the table. Is the hon. Gentleman ruling out nationalisati...
Mark Hoban | 469 c394 (Link to this contribution) I repeat what I have just said—that nationalisation would be a monumental failure and an indictment ...
Speaker | 469 c394 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind the House that there is a 10-minute limit on Back-Bench speeches.
Mark Hoban | 469 c393 (Link to this contribution) I shall happily give way. Perhaps the Minister will reply to some of the questions about the assets ...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c393 (Link to this contribution) On that specific point, the hon. Gentleman is aware, I am sure, that we are consulting on the reform...
Mark Hoban | 469 c393 (Link to this contribution) We said that we would facilitate the passage of any such legislation, but we need to see it first so...
Rob Marris | 469 c393 (Link to this contribution) I infer from the hon. Gentleman's remarks that his party thinks that nationalisation is not the way ...
Philip Davies | 469 c410 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a thoughtful speech. Does he agree that it is difficult to know what is the...
Philip Dunne | 469 c409-10 (Link to this contribution) That is precisely the point that I was about to make. With the benefit of hindsight, it is undoubted...
Colin Breed | 469 c409 (Link to this contribution) I know that hindsight is an inexact science, but will the hon. Gentleman offer a view on whether it ...
Philip Dunne | 469 c408 (Link to this contribution) A curious track record, although I believe that his role in banking preceded his role in advising Go...
Philip Dunne | 469 c407-8 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins), given his...
Speaker | 469 c407 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman's time is up.
Jim Cousins | 469 c406-7 (Link to this contribution) But it is precisely that general underlying point—a sound one—that reinforces the value of Northern ...
Julia Goldsworthy | 469 c406 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful and I will be brief. Does the hon. Gentleman agree with Citizens Advice, which highlig...
Jim Cousins | 469 c406 (Link to this contribution) I will give way, but I hope that the hon. Lady will acknowledge my situation.
Angela Eagle | 469 c416-8 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary made clear at the start of the debate, Northern Rock faced ...
Lord Davies of Stamford | 469 c411-2 (Link to this contribution) I do not know how much light this evening's debate has been able to throw on the problems in the int...
Julia Goldsworthy | 469 c415 (Link to this contribution) I was talking about the impact on taxpayers of the Government loan of some £30 billion. That equates...
Julia Goldsworthy | 469 c413-4 (Link to this contribution) I had hoped for a greater welcome in the House for this debate, because this is the only opportunity...
David Anderson | 469 c400-2 (Link to this contribution) The last time that we debated this issue, a number of my colleagues and I were accused in the Tory p...
Doug Henderson | 469 c396-7 (Link to this contribution) That is an important question. I am not evading it and I shall come back to it. The hon. Member for...
Lord Beith | 469 c395-6 (Link to this contribution) In that case, the hon. Gentleman owes it to the House to set out what will happen with a private bid...
Doug Henderson | 469 c395 (Link to this contribution) I have plenty answers and the north-east has plenty answers for the Liberal Democrats—I can tell the...
Steve Webb | 469 c395 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has no answers.
Speaker | 469 c400 (Link to this contribution) Order. I am afraid that the right hon. Gentleman's time allocation has been used up.
Lord Beith | 469 c398-400 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I do, although the lack of leadership of the directors goes back much further than that. Howeve...
Jim Cousins | 469 c398 (Link to this contribution) Does not the right hon. Gentleman accept that the fatal thing that caused the run on the bank was th...
Lord Beith | 469 c397-8 (Link to this contribution) If we leave aside the party politics, there was a lot in what the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyn...
Doug Henderson | 469 c395 (Link to this contribution) In a little while, but not at the moment—
Speaker | 469 c404 (Link to this contribution) Order. I commend the hon. Gentleman on his timing.
Lord Beamish | 469 c405 (Link to this contribution) I listened in horror to some of the things that the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) said, as ...
Jim Cousins | 469 c405 (Link to this contribution) There were two important points in that last contribution—among the travel adverts. One was that thi...
Steve Webb | 469 c406 (Link to this contribution) One thing that my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham did say that could be tested against the fac...
Jim Cousins | 469 c405-6 (Link to this contribution) There were shreds of evidence, but not shreds on which one would build the kind of case that the hon...
Jim Cousins | 469 c406 (Link to this contribution) I come back to this point. One of the real skills built up by Northern Rock's workers is making mort...
David Anderson | 469 c402-3 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the hon. Gentleman asked that question; I was about to come to that. He is right to s...
Sammy Wilson | 469 c402 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the list of good things that the hon. Gentleman has given to the House, but does all th...
Paul Burstow | 469 c419 (Link to this contribution) rose in his place and claimed to move, That the Question be now put. Question, That the Question be...
Angela Eagle | 469 c418-9 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. As Members know, Northern Rock has asked for expressions of intere...
Speaker | 469 c418 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are far too many conversations in the Chamber. Members who have been here throughout th...
Baroness Ussher | 469 c387 (Link to this contribution) All options are on the table, and we are therefore taking appropriate actions to ensure that they re...
Peter Tapsell | 469 c403-4 (Link to this contribution) I agreed with the mover of this motion, the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable), who has been suc...
Lord Beith | 469 c388 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman laudably expresses a wish that we should have a solution to this involving a priv...
Philip Dunne | 469 c410-1 (Link to this contribution) That would be helpful not only to those of us who are trying to understand what has gone wrong, but ...
Subjects
Assets Banks Deposits Protection Loans Nationalisation Sales North East Government guaranteed credit Northern Rock
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