The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, indicated that he was minded not to support our amendment and what I am about to say is therefore largely academic because I will not support his amendment. However, let me explain, because there is not an awful lot between me and the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley.
We expect the CMA to work closely with the regulator. That is best, and we totally agree that government would be wrong to intervene in that process, as the noble Lord rightly said. That is something in which I strongly believe. Most organisations are better when government does not interfere in them. They are full of competent people, as the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, said, who have served us well over a period of time. We are a very well regulated society, certainly compared with most other countries.
However, there needs to be a clear signal that if this does not work or there is abuse of the system, the Government have the opportunity to invade in this area, and that is exactly how it should be. In that way you are protecting the consumer—the customer—against bad practice, not interpreting the rules properly and so on. If the Secretary of State were to intervene, he would almost certainly have to put that before Parliament to seek its approval. We are all on the same side as regards the spirit of the amendment. “We are all in this together” is the phrase that we like to use most.
I would be disappointed if the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, could not agree to our amendment and invited me to withdraw it. However, we are all singing from the same hymn sheet, and I totally respect the views of noble Lords who have spoken because this issue is important. It is absolutely fundamental that the system works without government intervening aggressively in it.