Housing and Regeneration Bill

There is a sort of parallel to this situation; it is not precise in any way at all but I think that it is none the less apposite. Shareholders of plcs have every right to get involved with the management responsible for the company and, if need be, change it. That seems to me the ideal that the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, would like to aim for. I am bound to say that even that, although it may refer to plcs, is a fairly well regulated and understood procedure. Certainly every company has very clear and definite articles to regulate exactly how that would work. With his great experience of this subject, the noble Lord, Lord Best, is right to raise a cautionary note. The principle is easy to enunciate. The devil is always in the detail and it is the detailed mechanism that one would really have to worry about. Although I am happy to support the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, in the principle of what he would like to aim at—we can all be clear that that is the ultimate objective if we can achieve it—the words of the noble Lord, Lord Best, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, about supporting with caution are probably the wisest way to go. I shall not add to everything that has already been said because it would waste time and energy. I look forward to what the Minister has to say. I suspect that she will be somewhere in agreement with everything that has been said. But she has the authority and the awful responsibility of having to produce a solution. Perhaps her doing it today is more than we should expect, but we will read her reply with interest.