Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:11 pm on 15 February 2017.
Well, I was starting to be concerned that motions in this place didn’t have any effect at all, but I’m very pleased to hear at least that we are going to have an inquiry into this idea of alternative models and creating new institutions, including the possibility of a form of public bank or people’s bank—whatever you want to call it, the same principle applies. I’m sure that Members across the Chamber will look forward very much to seeing the result of that inquiry.
I very much welcome what the Cabinet Secretary said, despite the fact that banking regulation hasn’t been devolved. It does therefore restrict what we can do here, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to use every lever available to us, because that is our responsibility here. As Darren Millar said, we should be thinking creatively. The analysis of the problem in this case is divided, to a great extent, across the Chamber, on the basis of the contributions that we’ve heard, and on the basis of the experiences that we’ve all faced as Members. So, the response is to think innovatively and creatively and ambitiously. So, I welcome very much the Cabinet Secretary’s commitment to doing what the motion sought from the Welsh Government, which is to ask the question: could we create a new banking model for Wales that is better than what is already on offer?
Mark Isherwood, of course—