---

Company Law Reform Bill [Lords]

It is good to follow the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael). The House and the people who will have to use the law owe him a debt for the work that he did on it during his time at the Department of Trade and Industry. I half agree with the points that he made about trade justice. With respect to directors’ duties, he is right: the idea proposed by some campaigners that directors should have two, three or four duties to wrestle with at the same time would be a mistake. It would be like asking directors to speak from both the pulpits that he mentioned at the same time and therefore not to lead their companies correctly. However, he is wrong about the financial reporting of companies, particularly the narrative reporting of companies—a point that he did not cover with respect to the Bill and what the Trade Justice Movement wants. I enjoyed our exchange during a Statutory Instrument Committee on 16 March, when we talked about how the Government had got themselves into a bit of a tizz when the Chancellor suddenly did a volte-face on their previous position on operating financial reviews at the CBI conference at the end of November last year. The right hon. Gentleman, who was the Minister, had a wry smile during that debate, and I had hoped that he might feel liberated on the Back Benches and say a little more about what he really felt about the Chancellor’s move.