Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
9:15 am
Lorely Burt (Shadow Minister (Small Business), Trade & Industry; Solihull, Liberal Democrat)
On behalf of my Liberal Democrat colleagues, I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. Illsley, for this marathon. I am sure that under your wise guidance we will manage the whole event with dignity and good humour.
Our group will also play our part in ensuring that we co-operate as fully as possible, so that we meet the strict deadline imposed by the Government. I echo the hon. Gentleman’s sentiments: we will work hard to ensure that we do not take unnecessary time over things that are not controversial and have received a high degree of consensus in consultations elsewhere. However, we are disturbed at the order of proceedings. Although we take the Minister’s point about the Solicitor-General’s other responsibilities, it is unfortunate that legislation of this importance has to be ordered in a way that reflects his convenience, not the convenience of the Committee. It does not reflect well that no one on the Government side is available to give the level of expertise that taking the Bill through Committee in a coherent manner demands.
We are particularly concerned that clause 399, which relates to what was the operating and financial review and is now the business review, should receive proper time for debate. It would be appalling if we did not reach that point. We, too, will vote against the programme motion.