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Companies Bill [Lords]

I was going to come that later, but we may as well deal with it now. The hon. Gentleman refuted his own point as he made it. He said that the Secretary of State will face two possible errors, both of which would be equally embarrassing. His conclusion that they would always err on the side of caution was not shown by his remarks, because that would be true only if the error in one direction was more embarrassing than that in the other direction. The issue before us is the extent to which the Government’s proposal is enough to satisfy the legitimate concerns—not only constituency concerns—that have been raised by Opposition Members. The Government point to clause 117(4) as providing adequate protection, but what is crucial is whether it is as much as is necessary There is no doubt that it offers a lot of protection, because the register is effectively closed in the circumstances where it applies.