Mr Nigel Waterson (Eastbourne, Conservative)

We agree with the wisdom of repealing part 2 of the 1973 Act. The issue, which we shall consider in more detail later, is what to replace it with. We appreciate that some of the powers have fallen into disuse and that the committee seems to have fallen off its perch, as no one has seen hide nor hair of it since 1983. Clearly, something had to be put in its place, but there is a great debate to be had–perhaps not now–about where clause 202 takes us.

As the Minister will be aware, a campaign has recently been started by the National Consumer Council and various other leading consumer bodies, pushing for the duty not to trade unfairly. I appreciate that there are many arguments to be had about the scope of that, its practicality and its impact on other areas of English law. I do not want to open up such a debate today; we shall say more in due course. However, it is important to put down a marker about the fact that there is significant disappointment among consumer bodies that, although we are getting rid of part 2 of the Fair Trading Act, its proposed replacement is not man enough to do the job–if that is not a politically incorrect way of putting it.

As I said at the start of our proceedings in

Committee–it feels like a long time ago although it was only this morning–the opportunity to reform consumer legislation seems to come round on a 30-year cycle. Let us do our best to grab the opportunity in both hands. We shall not vote against clause 10 for the reasons that I have mentioned. However, I should not like the Minister to take that as approval–there is a great deal of debate to be had.

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