Clause 216
Banking Bill
2:30 pm
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
That is absolutely where we are. The hon. Member for Northampton, North gently chastised us for using the Monetary Policy Committee as a model for this but I would point out that her right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer said:
“We should learn from the example of the Monetary Policy Committee, and take a similar approach to financial stability,”—[Official Report, 5 June 2008; Vol. 476, c. 916.]
The present Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, her hon. Friend the Member for Burnley (Kitty Ussher), said in July, only about six weeks after the Chancellor came up with those wise words:
“I know the comparison with the MPC has been made but I think it is an entirely different situation.”
It just shows that, even over the course of six or seven weeks, the Treasury’s own view of this had evolved. We will see how effective it is in practice. While not necessarily coming back to look at legislation, I suspect that people will pore over the practice of how the Bank of England delivers and contributes towards maintaining and enhancing financial stability. I am sure the Treasury Committee will be kept busy for some time monitoring its activities in that respect.
This has been a helpful debate. It has drawn out from the Government that we will have to see how this works and think about the context. We are in difficult waters at the moment trying to work out the right institutional arrangements, but this debate has been helpful in establishing the start of that process and we shall see how it develops. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.