Private Equity (Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment) Bill

My hon. Friend is entirely right. One of the consequences of globalisation is that countries will have to concentrate on their areas of strength. Economies will develop on the basis of certain countries being seen as experts and world leaders in particular fields. Financial services are one of the UK's few remaining genuinely world-beating industries, and we must build on that. We certainly do not want to undermine it. We must make London as attractive a place as possible for private equity and venture capital to come to. That is the only way we will continue to attract the current levels of investment and encourage the brightest and best people from around the world to come here and invest their money here. We do not live in an era of protectionism, or an era when people must invest in this country and put up with the laws as they stand. People can invest money in different countries. We need to try to win as much of that business as we can. Winning it will lead to faster growth, higher productivity, more innovation and a higher tax-take for the Exchequer to pay for better public services. If we lose that investment, however, there will be falling productivity, lower pensions, lower general investment, fewer jobs, and a lower tax-take for the Government to invest in public services. That is why it is crucial that we maintain the investment into this country. Mention was made of sovereign wealth funds. They are estimated to have collectively between $2 trillion and $3 trillion at their disposal to invest. I was therefore interested in the comments of the hon. Member for Nottingham, East as to whether sovereign wealth funds would be covered by the Bill and how such measures might apply. I look forward to reading his explanatory notes on the definition of private equity and to seeing how far his Bill covers that area.