Any deal hammered out over a chicken balti in the small hours by desperate bankers and bleary-eyed politicians was always going to throw up a few conflicts. One of the most obvious is what happens to mortgages.

How keen should a state-controlled institution be to throw people out on to the street? Keen as mustard, to judge from Northern Rock, reported to be sending in the repo men to homes that are just a couple of months in arrears. Politicians would love to call a halt to repossessions. Some have argued, plausibly, that the resulting social costs, rehousing families and coping with the after-effects of broken marriages, outweigh any benefits. It is going to be difficult to ensure the necessary balance between compassion and improvidence is achieved.

Now we learn that certain mortgage lenders, the little weasels, either have clever arrangements in place to ensure that their rates do not drop below a certain level no matter what happens to interest rates or are quietly putting them in place. If your mortgage is with Halifax or Nationwide, it will never get below 3 per cent plus a bit even if base rates hit an implausible 0 per cent, as actually happened in Japan a few years back.

There is one good reason why this would not have been a problem previously: competition between lenders, a concept in danger of going the way of the hula hoop. It is down to the lenders’ new owner, the state, to ensure that falls in interest rates are indeed passed on to borrowers, and that the little weasels are kept in their cages.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive