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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

I am grateful to my noble friend for her intervention on this matter. I think the noble and learned Lord was a little less than generous. As I said when speaking to the amendment, the Bill contains an exceptionally wide set of parameters in parts 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule 2. We all agree that the Takeover Panel’s independence has been an important part of our success. If it becomes felt that the panel is an arm of government because it has so many gateways attached to it, that will undermine some of its effectiveness. If the Attorney-General agrees—and I think he does—that it has been successful, we need to be very careful that we do not add bells and whistles to the Takeover Panel which will make it less effective in the future. With the greatest respect, it is not good enough to say, ““Tell us the gateways that do not work””. There are a great many gateways in the Bill—witness the length of Schedule 2—and, of course, we will have another look at them and take further external advice on the matter. We share the wish of the noble and learned Lord and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ensure that the City is successful—the Bill will be a very important part of that—so the Attorney-General really should not get cross and irritated with us when we start talking about gateways and say, ““Bring me John the Baptist’s head on a charger and I will respond to you””.