Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 4:22 pm on 20 January 2009.
The hon. Gentleman mentioned a plan earlier, but the plan that we are currently following is not new. It did not appear in 2008 or 2009; it stems from the problems affecting Sweden in 1992 and 1993. An important part of the Swedish recovery was the setting up of "toxic banks" to take on the toxic assets of other banks, which in the final analysis left the Swedish economy with a total cost of between 1 and 3 per cent. of GDP—less than has already been committed by the United Kingdom Government.