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Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

I share the concern of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lyell of Markyate, about this part of the Bill. It paves a way around the jurisdiction of the court and instead gives officials considerable prosecuting powers. I can anticipate the response of the noble Lord, Lord Bach, to these probing amendments. He will say that the current court procedures are too time-consuming and cost the country a lot of money to hear each year. That may well be, but this system is far more accountable, transparent and consistent—supposedly the aims of the Bill—and what the Bill in fact proposes. The fixed and variable penalties, which the Bill gives the regulator the power to wield, are criminal penalties and therefore regulators do not have the right to instruct or implement them. That is the role of the court, which is founded on the concepts of accountability, transparency and consistency—all the words that the noble Lord, Lord Desai, feels are just too much when he talks about the Bill. I cannot think of any other way for us to express this. Does the noble Lord, Lord Bach, not think that giving such powers to the regulators makes a dangerous statement of little faith in the legal system which is essential to the protection of British citizens? I ask, as did the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lyell, that the Government look again at the tried and tested courts system.