Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

If I may say so, with respect, again that is a very theoretical approach. A small shareholder in a company who owns a few thousand shares might feel, if he knows the background, that this is an issue in which he wishes to get involved. Without any information, he is not going to get on a train to travel to Newcastle to attend the annual general meeting. That is life. Theoretically he should do so, but it is not going to happen. Given that on both sides of the Committee we are concerned about transparency and about people knowing the facts, this is an easy opportunity to have to put all the facts before the shareholders, who can then decide whether to attend, not attend, give a proxy to someone or just let the whole thing go hang, which is their privilege, as the noble Lord rightly points out.