Clause 31

Part of Banking Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:30 am on 11 November 2008.

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Photo of David Gauke David Gauke Shadow Minister (Treasury) 10:30, 11 November 2008

Clause 31 relates to the effect of a transfer, which we touched on in the debate initiated by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough last week. He raised the issue of whether subsection (3) has effect notwithstanding EU provisions. I have no intention of repeating that argument, but there are one or two ambiguities in the clause; in particular, subsection (3) refers to the transfer taking effect

“despite any restriction arising...in any other way”.

It would be helpful if the Minister could explain what that means. The subsection also refers to contract or legislation, so presumably “in any other way” means a common law restriction. If it means more than that we would welcome clarification. Our intention, in particular with amendment No. 134, is to flush that out.

With amendment No. 135, we query whether “(by any name)” in subsection (4)(b) is necessary. It is a drafting point, but the expression does not seem to add a great deal to the interpretation of the subsection. Can the Minister explain otherwise? I shall raise one or two points in a stand part debate, but the purpose of the amendments is to seek clarity from the Minister as to the intention of the clause.