Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, perhaps I may finish saying why I do not think these amendments will work and then we can go on from there. I do not think they will work for two reasons, as I have said. The first is that they would narrow the definition, and we do not want to do that. Secondly, all the advice I have is that it is not sensible to put in a particular illustration of this for something which is going to be in company law and, therefore, should be as wide as possible to take account of the very points that the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson, has made. This is not only about animal rights extremism; it is also about other improper uses of the register of shareholders. We do not think that these amendments help. I cannot say that I will go away and consider them because I do not think they are going in the right direction. But if these amendments are not pressed, I will certainly have a meeting with noble Lords and others in this field to see whether there are other ways in which we can make this provision stronger and more appropriate. If so, we will bring back amendments to deal with that. I do not wish to say that I will consider these amendments because I do not think they actually help this case. I will certainly have a meeting, however, and consider whether there is any other way that we can take this matter forward. As I said, I see this as a very serious issue.