Consumer Credit Bill

This amendment is tabled in my name as well as those of the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Hendon, and the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley. The one point that the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, has not stressed is that this amendment is the natural result of the Government not conceding the points we made earlier in the passage of the Bill regarding a serious definition of unfair relationships. Our collective view is that if the Government are not prepared at this stage to make clear how unfair relationships are to be defined—we lost that argument earlier in Committee, and whether we return to it on Report or at Third Reading remains to be seen—it behoves them not to bring in those provisions until it is clear to the industry what Clauses 19 to 22 mean. The two amendments go together. The Government either accept our amendment on unfair relationships or they accept this amendment to ensure proper consultation so that the industry knows where it is before the sections are implemented.