Clause 115
Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
3:45 pm
Jonathan Djanogly (Shadow Solicitor General (Also Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry), Law Officers (Assist the Home Affairs Team); Huntingdon, Conservative)
Hon. Members can probably tell from that list that the amendments in this group are somewhat more significant than many of the amendments that we have discussed so far. We are moving on, of course, to shareholders’ and non-members’ rights to inspect and require copies of the register of members.
It of interest that when the matter was first discussed in Grand Committee in the Lords, the question of denying access was not raised from the point of view of extremist activity. That is because the Opposition took the decision that that was a political issue that should be dealt with by this House, not least because the topic is one on which I have corresponded with the Government for several years in the interests of my constituents who work at Huntingdon Life Sciences. Subsequently, however, several thousand shareholders of GlaxoSmithKline, the pharma-group, received threatening letters from animal rights terrorists. Suddenly, on Report in the Lords, Lord Sainsbury, on direct orders from above and urged on by a chorus of vocal peers, promised to go away and reconsider the Government’s position before Third Reading, when amendments were indeed produced and added to the Bill.
Having demanded increased protection for shareholders for many years now, and the Government having rejected my amendments to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill to do that, I am pleased to see that the issue is now being addressed. I am aware, however, that reactive and on-the-hoof law can often turn into the worst law in practice. That is why we need to spend some time on the clauses.
The overriding concern of my hon. Friends is to ensure the protection of shareholders from violence and intimidation.