Clause 1 - Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: regulated activities
Regulation of Financial Services (Land Transactions) Bill
11:00 am
Mark Field (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Cities of London and Westminster, Conservative)
No one would dispute the fact that the role of any regulator should be to put a stop to that practice, as the Minister said. He is also right to say that we cannot eliminate risk, and in a fast-changing world that should not be a goal of the FSA. Elimination as opposed to minimisation of risk would obviously be prohibitively expensive and wrap a lot of red tape around anyone in that field. However, it is right that, increasingly, and particularly in this area, competition, innovation and international competitiveness are at the heart of the FSA's remit. The Minister mentions that the FSA has an annual report. I hope that there may be an opportunity to include a specific paragraph on the workings of this issue, and other new legislation may provide an opportunity to achieve much of what we sought to achieve through this probing amendment. Whereas the FSA may be the best regulator of its type, there is a sense that we need to have an eye on what is a fast-changing world.
I have been reassured by the debate that we can move forward. As the Minister rightly says, rarely can there be a love-in with regulators. I shall return to the musical analogy for a final moment or two, if I may, because the Minister was born in 1967, the year that the Tremeloes went to No. 1 with ''Silence is Golden''. I perhaps ought to say that the title of their follow-up single ought to be a motto for my party; it was called ''Even The Bad Times Are Good''. On that cheery note, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 1 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause 2 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Bill to be reported, without amendment.
Committee rose at thirteen minutes past Eleven o'clock.