Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

I shall be very brief because I think the Minister has answered the issue we wished to raise in relation to the series of technical amendments to which he has just spoken. A great deal of legal drafting is expended on Clause 120 and the single-member company. The issue of why such companies should be treated differently from other companies has been raised with us and, in particular, why it is necessary to produce a statement. If you have a one-member company it becomes pretty clear when it is altering its status because you have one member. I suspect the Minister will tell me that this is to do with the EU directive, but it seems to be taking a sledgehammer to crack a rather small nut. We have therefore initiated this stand part debate to get on the record the Government’s views on the value of this extremely lengthy clause on a series of events which seem self-evident.