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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, I shall be brief. I support the amendment in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts and Lord De Mauley. I think this is an admirable compromise and, although I recognise the force of what has been said about the problem of the term ““improper uses””, I come at it from the point of view of organisations that support small shareholders and who do not want to be denied access for the proper purpose of bringing matters to the attention of their members. That might well be jeopardised by the rather complex rules introduced in the Bill to refuse access to information. I very strongly support the admirable compromise proposed in the amendments.