Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill

It is a pleasure to speak to the Government’s amendments to the Economic Crime and Corporate Tran...

I want to say at the beginning of proceedings how fantastic it is to have a Minister who deeply c...

The hon. Lady gives me a significant reputation to live up to. She is right, however, that some o...

May I echo the voices of those saying how delightful it is to see the Minister at the Dispatch Bo...

I think it would be wrong to make any representations on any particular case, but seeking to enab...

Will the Minister give way?

I will make a little progress, if I may. I appreciate that there are a large number of Government...

Will the Minister give way?

I will give way to the right hon. Member on that point, because her many speeches in Parliament h...

I am very grateful that the Government have listened to our representations on accountability. I ...

Again, we discussed this at length in Committee. The right hon. Member’s perspective is that we s...

I am extremely grateful to the Minister for giving way again. This is not telling Companies House...

I am happy to respond to the right hon. Member’s new clause later when we have debated it. I have...

Let me echo the wide welcome that the Minister has received at the Dispatch Box. Has he had a cha...

Again, I think it would be wrong to comment on individual cases, but I take the right hon. Member...

I understand that every year there are about 1,200 disqualifications of unfit directors. Does the...

I did not quite hear the hon. Member’s whole point. Is it about the quality and quantity of infor...

No. There are about 1,200 disqualifications a year. How many more does the Minister believe may a...

We do not have the data to be able to say. It obviously depends on numerous factors. As I say, we...

I join others in welcoming the Minister to his place.

Two of my constituents have lost thei...

It sounds like a matter for the Financial Conduct Authority, which does not directly relate to my...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on bringing this Bill forward and welcome him to his place. He know...

That may not be part of this Bill, but it is part of my portfolio, I am pleased to say. My hon. F...

It is a pleasure to follow the Minister and to speak to our amendments.

The Labour party ha...

Is the hon. Lady aware that many stakeholders strongly feel that the Bill’s powers require furthe...

I thank the hon. Lady for her comments. She is alluding to a theme that goes through the Bill: we...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech and pushing for even better legislation. Does she ag...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The amendment would do two things. It would change the cultur...

rose—

Before returning to our new clause 16, I will briefly take an intervention from my right hon. Fri...

My hon. Friend is making a brilliant speech. Does she agree that it is vital that we have a much ...

My right hon. Friend is right about keeping our legislation up to date. He says that with great a...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent contribution to the debate. The point is that the Governmen...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. We should be ambitious for the registrar and for Compan...

Is not the point that if someone is convicted of a criminal offence, the court automatically has ...

I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. Perhaps he is missing some of our argument around t...

indicated dissent.

It is a risk—the Minister is shaking his head, so I am going to repeat it—for a backdoor route to...

rose—

I will just complete my point and then bring the Minister in if he wishes to intervene. I would b...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way. It is not a backdoor to try to get around the legi...

I am grateful to the Minister for his intervention, and for setting out the context and the Gover...

Does my hon. Friend agree there can be absolutely no objection to that approach? In the Minister’...

The Minister has heard what my right hon. Friend says. If that is what Parliament wishes and inte...

Does my hon. Friend believe that this afternoon’s debate has covered the important area of phoeni...

That is part of what we seek, but there is further to go. I know that amendments tabled by other ...

That is exactly how it will work.

I thank the Minister for his confirmation. The legislation is not as tight as we would like it to...

My hon. Friend is raising a really important point, which has been put into some question by a ju...

I thank my right hon. Friend for her intervention and for the discussions that we had on this mat...

I rise to speak to new clause 20 and the amendments tabled in the name of my right hon. Friend th...

My hon. Friend is making some valid points, as I would expect from the Chair of the Treasury Comm...

I think I heard the Minister acknowledge that Companies House needs more resources, and that thos...

At this point in the cycle, I cannot believe there is not a resource budget. Even within the cons...

The right hon. Lady makes some excellent points. Once the Minister does this work, it may well tu...

Is the point not also that if we raise the fees, rather than their falling to the general taxpaye...

That is my point—my hon. Friend has made it much better than I was. This is an offer to the Minis...

I am glad to rise on this auspicious day to discuss this auspicious Bill. Today is auspicious not...

I pay tribute to the Minister for the work he has done on this issue when he was one of us on the...

Yes. I have remarked in Committee, as the Minister will well remember, on the number of occasions...

Does the hon. Member agree that waivers for warlords is exactly the kind of information that the ...

The right hon. Member makes an incredibly important point. The case reported in the press today s...

I thank the hon. Lady for giving way and wish many happy returns to her mother.

The hon. La...

I agree. The hon. Gentleman is anticipating my moving on to new clause 20, which talks to some of...

Before I call Dame Andrea Leadsom, I remind everybody that a number of cases are still before the...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss). I agree with mu...

I welcome the Minister to his place. I enjoyed working with him for a number of years on the Back...

I am always interested in what the right hon. Lady has to say. We have shown that we are willing ...

It is an important clause—I agree with the Minister on that—but equally, if we introduce a duty t...

The disease of not listening troubles me. I am not saying that the Government are not listening, ...

My hon. Friend makes an important point, because we legislated last year to create a register of ...

The right hon. Member is raising a very important case, which she rightly says I have referred to...

On the last point, the Minister is right that such companies cannot sell or lease the property, b...

My right hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does she agree that the US model is worth loo...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right and I will refer to that a little later in my contribution.