Enterprise Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 5:30 pm on 28 October 2002.

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Photo of Lord Kingsland Lord Kingsland Conservative 5:30, 28 October 2002

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his response. In a way, his reaction to the amendment is consistent with his reaction to Amendments Nos. 1 and 2. Having created a specialised competition tribunal, the noble Lord is reluctant to give it any work to do. That is, perhaps, an exaggeration; but he is reluctant to give it all the work that taking the trouble to set it up merits.

If judicial review of a merger decision in the United Kingdom amounted to the same kind of review as that given to merger cases by the court of first instance in Luxembourg, I would reflect again on the wisdom of the amendment. However, our experience of commercial and competition judicial review in the United Kingdom leads to the ineluctable conclusion that judicial review—indeed, judicial review of commercial matters generally—is significantly less capable of investigating the kind of details that the court of first instance would investigate in a similar situation. That is because the judges have chosen not to trespass on the territory that has become so familiar to the court of first instance.

I shall not press the amendment to a vote. However, I hope that, between now and the time when the Bill goes to another place, the noble Lord will reconsider what he said—so that he can amend that part of the Bill accordingly.

As always, I listened with great care to the noble Lord, Lord Borrie. His experience of such matters is unsurpassed in your Lordships' House. I venture to take issue with the noble Lord to the extent that I believe that the United Kingdom has reached the stage at which it would be foolish for us to remain too far behind developments on competition matters in the European Community. It is clear that they are becoming more judicialised—for better or for worse—and we must also go down that path.

Meanwhile, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.