To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider proposals by the European Commission for regulations to allow the break-up of banks in the European Union to be in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity.

The Government considers that while structural reform provides substantial benefits even if applied at a national level, there may be arguments for unifying the objectives and standards of bank structural reform across the EU. Uniform objectives and standards reform could reduce the scope for regulatory arbitrage and help promote a level playing field for banking in the EU. Furthermore, the Government considers that the derogation clause and degree of supervisory discretion proposed would be sufficient to ensure that the subsidiarity principle is applied.