Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to all those who have spoken in this important debate. Our view on these Benches is that we have a company law Bill every 15 or 20 years and, therefore, we would be failing to carry out our proper role of scrutinising the Bill if we were just to wave it away in its present form. I never thought that these amendments would provide a deus ex machina to solve this problem. It was a step in the right direction because the advice we have had is that, far from what the Minister is saying, the drafting of the clause is far too wide and allows people to move round the edges in a way that our formulation would not. The noble Lord, Lord Razzall, might feel that it does not go far enough but what we were trying to achieve here was half a loaf. In that sense it was a step in the right direction and we should not allow this to go unconsidered. The Minister, however, has made a fair offer—to have a further look at this before Third Reading. We will want to consider what he said, including the legal points he has made, to see whether they have validity in the eyes of people we can talk to outside the House. If, in parallel with that, we can have some serious discussions about how we could make this effective—for all the reasons my noble friends, including the noble Baroness, Lady Murphy, have said—and pursue it as a twin-track approach, then I would be happy to withdraw these amendments. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 57 and 58 not moved.] Clause 136 [Enjoyment or exercise of members’ rights]: