Member

I do not believe for a minute that the regulator is independent. I have never seen such comprehensive regulation and I took through the water privatisation Bill in another place some 30 years ago. The amount of time that was relevant and placed on the regulator’s role in that Bill—one of many of the privatisations that took place—was tiny in comparison with the 124 pages of detailed financial regulation that the Government are bringing forward, along with a whole series of additional powers to the Secretary of State to direct the regulator.