Clause 42 - Objectives and duties under WIA
Water Bill [Lords]
7:30 pm
Mr Elliot Morley (Minister of State (Environment and Agri-Environment), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Scunthorpe, Labour)
Well, I guess that the Polly Peck shareholders had aspirations due to market expectations, and we all know what happened in that case. We have to be careful on the issue. My worry is that, if it is written into the Bill, there is enormous potential leverage to companies. We have to take consumers into account. The idea of the Bill is to have a balance between the needs of companies and of consumers. The amendment does not take into account the needs of consumers, because it alters the balance in favour of the companies because of the difficulty of interpretation, the demands that the companies might make, and what could be a blank cheque.