The worst is behind us. Lloyds chief executive Eric Daniels’ mantra sums up his take on almost every aspect of the bank’s ill-fated acquisition of Halifax Bank of Scotland. Now for the latest journey: leading Lloyds to independence from the government that bailed it out. Unlike Royal Bank of Scotland, it will not tip its bad loans into the government’s asset protection scheme, so saving £15.6bn of capital in ‘B’ shares issued solely to cover the state’s insurance premium. That fee increasingly looked steep, given that Lloyds no longer expects to make claims – or not that many. Furthermore, its run rate of impairments slowed in the third quarter, supporting the optimistic outlook in Mr Daniels’ rear view mirror.