Clause 5
12:45 pm
Stephen Ladyman (South Thanet, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman is quite right, and I am not promoting this idea as a proposition. I am simply asking whether the Government want the power to restrict accounts to individual organisations. I would think seriously about restricting the accounts to post offices and friendly societies to encourage those institutions. I am asking my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary, by way of this amendment, whether he will have the power, through regulation, to restrict the sort of organisation that may provide accounts to those classes of organisation. If he says in the future, “I don’t want banks doing this, because I don’t trust them to do it properly and to provide the right advice; I want to limit the people who may provide these accounts to the Post Office and friendly societies,” will he have the power to implement that under the Bill?