---

Financial Services Bill

My Lords, I have no doubt that the chairman and chief executive of the FSA, the governor and deputy governors of the Bank of England, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his junior Ministers all know precisely what their roles are. They know where they operate with their independent executive authority and where they co-ordinate their actions through the tripartite organisation or through the new Council for Financial Stability. Nothing in the noble Baroness’s proposals would in any way lead to a superior response in a situation such as that of Northern Rock. I listened very carefully to what the noble Lord, Lord Howard, said about the need for executive clarity and the avoidance of any confusion about lines of authority and accountability. Our structure delivers precisely that, whereas I believe that the noble Baroness’s amendments, as I have suggested, obfuscate and confuse. They grant executive authorities and powers that the Council for Financial Stability is not designed to exercise.