Business secretary Peter Mandelson has reiterated that the government has no plans to nationalise the banking sector. Speaking yesterday he said that nationalisation was neither ‘necessary nor desirable’ although he admitted UK banking regulations ‘might have been wider and tougher’. He ruled out full nationalisation as happened at Northern Rock saying the majority ownership model at Lloyds and RBS enabled the government to ‘exercise a great deal of influence…without removing the shareholders.’