Chi Onwurah: ...and Skills whether his Department has had discussions with representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) regarding granting SME representative bodies super complaint status in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill; and which bodies were consulted.
Chi Onwurah: My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and if it is in order I want to consider the objective of the changes proposed in the Bill. It is called the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, but where are the measures to promote enterprise? We all agree that enterprise is important for growth and therefore for jobs, and competition and markets are essential to enterprise, but we already have one...
Chi Onwurah: I have said that I agree that we can improve the competition regime and that we will support some measures, but to call the Bill the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill and to have some measures to perfect the regime—by improving timeliness, for example—is not, given the gravity of the situation we are now in, the best use of Government time in relation to creating jobs. I will not talk...
Chi Onwurah: ..., into one organisation, Ofcom, which, as we have already discussed, is one of the most respected regulators in the world. Jobs and growth are the Opposition’s priorities. Although this is the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, it is clear that its measures do not directly contribute to that priority. The Government have their own priorities and we will deal with them and scrutinise...
Chi Onwurah: ...first stage of a review into corporate governance and economic short-termism”. That is the Kay review of UK equity markets and long-term decision making. Yet, 20 months later, we are debating an Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill that contains nothing to reform corporate governance or address short-termism.
Chi Onwurah: ...entrepreneurs and sole traders. Perhaps the Minister will present it. The evidence seems largely anecdotal. We have seen such a situation before. The previous Bill Committee that I served on—the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill Committee—tried to shoehorn in many proposals from the Beecroft review, which seemed to be entirely based on anecdotal evidence. Let us assume for a...
Chi Onwurah: ...change to a law that has existed for 40 years and saved many lives. I must confess that I am experiencing déjà vu because, as I have said, the last Bill Committee on which I served considered the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill. It, too, was full of attacks and policies based on anecdote, and here we are again. The Government have given up even pretending to tackle issues that...