---

Companies Bill [Lords]

I am relieved that, at last, we can get on to the matters of substance in which many members of the public are interested, and I should have thought that many hon. Members are concerned about them, too. I hope that we shall do so with some of the tolerance, good humour and dignity that we experienced in Committee but which we did not experience during the debate on the programme motion. It is a little daunting to open the batting on a 1,264 clause Bill. However, thankfully, I wish to speak only to new clause 4 and amendment No. 2—the consequential amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth, North (Sarah McCarthy-Fry) and me. The House will be aware that directors’ duties have attracted a great deal of attention outside Parliament and, consequently and quite rightly, were subject to detailed and lengthy scrutiny in Committee. I am given to understand that the public response to the issue has been one of the largest of all time. The office of my right hon. Friend the Minister for Industry and the Regions has been inundated by the cards generated by the Corporate Responsibility Coalition and the Trade Justice Movement. I congratulate those two umbrella organisations on their campaign, and I thank the many members of the public who have flagged up their views, both to the Department and to individual Members of Parliament around the country.