HBOS TAKEOVER

That this House welcomes the measures taken by the UK and other governments to tackle the current banking crisis; calls on the Government to reverse its decision to make the Lloyds TSB takeover of HBOS a condition of its bail-out funding; considers that the promises of the Lloyds TSB management that only the Scottish headquarters of the merged bank would be retained in Edinburgh a totally inadequate response to Scottish demands and would result in a huge loss of jobs and decision-making powers in Scotland, particularly in Edinburgh and Fife; and calls on the Government to use its stakeholding in HBOS to retain it as an independent bank with its corporate headquarters in Edinburgh and to make this a condition of funding for HBOS.