Darling may face grilling over Rock

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Liberal Democrat acting leader and Treasury spokesman Vince Cable is set to table an urgent question calling for Mr Darling to appear before MPs on the issue.

The move comes amid continued uncertainty about the future of Northern Rock and its loan of more than £20 billion from the Bank of England.

The Lib Dems are calling on the Government to take over the stricken mortgage lender despite a number of takeover proposals from the private sector.

"The Government may be hoping for a knight in shining armour from the private sector to take on the bank and pay back Government loans but this looks highly unlikely," Mr Cable said. "For the Government the least worst option would be to nationalise Northern Rock to safeguard taxpayers' money, and then to sell the bank on in due course.

"The Chancellor must come to the House of Commons to explain the position of the bank on Monday."

Northern Rock chief executive Adam Applegarth resigned on Friday night along with four non-executive directors.

The UK's fifth-biggest mortgage lender was forced to turn to the Bank of England for emergency lending in September after its borrowing costs soared in the summer credit crunch - sparking the first run on a UK bank in more than 150 years.

Mr Darling was forced to step in to guarantee the deposits of the bank's customers after thousands queued to withdraw their savings.

Reports suggest as many as eight parties have expressed interest in Northern Rock, although so far only four have gone public with proposals. They are New York-based private equity firm JC Flowers, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Money, Cerberus, another US private equity firm, and Olivant, an investment group headed by former Abbey chief executive Luqman Arnold.