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Companies Bill [Lords]

The hon. Lady has referred twice to remarks that I made at a breakfast meeting at which she and I were both present. I just want to put the record straight in the House. I said that, of the 700,000 or so audits that take place a year, most are carried out scrupulously by auditors, with diligence and honesty. However, that does not mean that we do not need an offence to assure ourselves that all audits are carried out scrupulously, diligently and honestly. Most people do not commit murder, but that does not mean that we do not have an offence on the statute book to prosecute people who do. Her argument is spurious.