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Companies Bill [Lords]

The amendment does deal with directors’ conflicts of interest. Our aim is that directors should seek to avoid conflicts of interest, which do arise and need to be dealt with in a reasonable and balanced way. If they arise, the interests of the company must come first. The current law is strict. We want to put in place a statutory structure that enables the interests of the company to be closely balanced with those of the director so that people may have, in particular circumstances, multiple directorships. But it has to be clear that the interests of the various companies of which they are directors are taken into account. Through the amendments—particularly amendment No. 402—the Conservatives are starting to water down the balanced safeguards that we have provided for shareholders.