Member

There are good reasons for the Treasury to have some skin in the game. If the power is to be used for banks which have been set an MREL amount, the need for recapitalisation payments under the Bill raises an inevitable question about decisions the Bank had already made in relation to the amount of MREL or the timing or shape of the glide path that it had allowed. The Bank of England made those decisions, yet it now has the power to force the rest of the banking sector to foot the bill if those decisions prove not to be robust. The Bank of England has an obvious conflict of interest here, and it is right that the Treasury should formally agree with the rationale for the use of the power in circumstances for which it was not designed by giving its consent. Treasury consent is important also in a broader context of accountability—I shall return to that in a later amendment, but I will keep my powder dry until then.