Last Friday you and I, as taxpayers, became the not so proud owners of Northern Rock. No doubt Gordon Brown and his beleaguered Chancellor hopes nationalisation will provide a breathing space for the business and a respite for them from uncomfortable headlines.

If so, I suspect this will not last long.

The scale of this nationalisation - a word no Minister dared utter during three full days of debate in Commons and Lords last week - is unprecedented but still unclear. The Government rushed through a Bill without giving any indication of how much debt is now being guaranteed by taxpayers or what if anything it will pay to shareholders.

Nor did they mention what it has cost so far in fees, not just to advisers Goldman Sachs and their lawyers, but also to the failed bidders Virgin Money and Olivant and their advisers. Estimates of up to £100 million have been suggested. The only figures we were given are the salaries of the two foreigners appointed to run the bank, a total of £2 million a year.

The Government's whole approach to Northern Rock has been to wish it was not happening and hope to keep it under wraps. Well now it is owned by the public, the public have a right to know what they own.

The other reason this seems unlikely to lie low, is that all the signals are for a slowing housing market. As Northern Rock had been lending so aggressively this time last year during the peak in house prices, capturing 1 in 5 of all new mortgage advances in the UK, it is now at risk of rising default rates and repossessions from a falling market.

Nationalisation is going to keep the spotlight on the Government's handling of Northern Rock and will over-shadow its claims for stewardship of the economy right up to the next election.