Clause 76
Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]
1:45 pm
Vera Baird (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs; Redcar, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman does himself a disservice—this is an elegant amendment, except that we do not think it necessary. I understand the underlying concern, which he set out plainly, but the criterion
“likely to cause harm to the public”
does not require the whole population to be in danger. “Public” means anyone not related to the company.
The problem with the amendment is that it suggests that a risk must be either to all those or to a group—a section of the public—who share a characteristic, such as the elderly or the vulnerable, for example, as he said, that distinguishes them from the rest of the public. As the provision is drafted, all that would be required to trigger the power in the clause is the risk of harm to a substantial number of people, whether or not they could be described as a section of the public, according to the hon. Gentleman’s definition.
I hope that the hon. Gentleman is reassured and is able to withdraw the amendment. He is entirely right about amendment No. 141 and we will consider it, as we offered to do in relation to an earlier amendment.