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Company Law Reform Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support the amendments on directors’ duties. I very much welcome the Government’s Amendment No. 79, but I hope that they will look hard at the other amendments in the group. I join the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, in commending CORE and the Trade Justice Movement for all their efforts in this regard. I understand the theory that the best interests of companies should embrace the protection of the environment—it would surely be short-sighted to degrade that—and of the communities in which the companies are working. However, we all know that this is not necessarily the case. As Liberal Democrat spokesperson on international development, I see cases both of enlightened action and of unenlightened action by companies. Let us take as an example the British companies identified by the United Nations expert panel as being involved in malpractice in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their actions certainly do not promote the interests of the community; in fact, they foster conflict. And they certainly do not promote the interests of the environment; in fact, they are tearing it apart for its mineral wealth. To judge by the previous debate, the Tories seem to closing their eyes to this, whatever they may say in other debates. We all know about the actions of companies in the Amazon forest and elsewhere. That is why I wonder whether the Government’s amendment, welcome though it is, still allows too much room for such companies to get off the hook, and why I am glad that additional amendments have been tabled to strengthen this clause. The amendments would, for example, minimise the effect on the environment and not simply have regard to it, and would promote sustainable development. I also welcome Amendment No. 87, which would require the Government to publish guidance on the duties of company directors. I hope that that would help those directors to clarify their responsibilities. Perhaps such guidance would reassure some of the noble Lords who spoke in the previous debate and make things clearer for them. I therefore look forward to hearing the Minister’s response to the debate.