Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the noble Baroness’s amendments because I am impressed by the technical arguments of the NGOs, with which I have worked for many years. We should be aware that there is a very strong lobby—I think that the noble Lord, Lord Judd, will agree—of environmental and development agencies acting together in favour of greater corporate responsibility. They greatly deplore the loss of the Operating and Financial Review, which was proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and then removed. As a former board member of Christian Aid, which is part of the Trade Justice Movement, I recognise the importance of a coalition which combines these two wings—the greens and the aid lobby. This is a very rare combination in public life. I know that Ministers are falling over backwards to get the wording right, but I feel that the government amendment is so weak as to be almost unnecessary, as the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, said, and as many Conservatives agree. The Government would be making a mistake if they did not give a little more ground to the lobby in the interests of developing countries and those who seek to support them. Companies should at the very least be required to promote sustainable development, to report on the social and environmental impact of their work, to minimise any damage to local communities and to compensate those affected. Further, companies should if necessary enable the victims to have access to justice in the UK if they cannot get redress in their own countries. Such a minimal degree of corporate responsibility will also, in my view, enhance the value and the reputation of the company—an argument on which I think the Conservatives would do well to reflect.