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Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill

We welcome new clause 20, which, as the Minister said, is designed to promote the regulatory principles that derive from the Hampton review and the five principles of better regulation. There is clearly a role for merging regulators, and there is a proposal to merge 35 national regulators into seven. However, if changes to the role of a major regulator might impact on the public or have a great effect on business, it should be possible for full parliamentary scrutiny to take place. When the former Minister addressed that matter in Committee, I understood that he gave an assurance that that would happen. However, subject to that point, we welcome the new clause as a step in the right direction.