Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill
Debate between Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve and Lord Phillips of Sudbury
Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve
My Lords, before the Minister replies, like many other noble Lords I have been trying to clarify where we are. I think that it is the case that the detour through the royal charter, which is where the two-thirds majority is mentioned, means that an ordinary vote in both Houses of Parliament would not be sufficient. This royal charter is an instrument of the Privy Council. We are not voting to create a royal charter, as that is beyond our powers. It is the Privy Council that will create it. We are indicating, as it were, a mechanism of access to that which it is intended the Privy Council will create at a future date.
Lord Phillips of Sudbury
My Lords, I am sorry to prolong this, but it seems rather important. The Minister said in answer to my question that the industry could indeed side-step the whole of this mechanism. Therefore, what we have here by way of protection—namely, you cannot amend and you cannot dissolve—could be rendered nugatory by the industry simply saying, “We are going to set up a parallel, separate body”. I wonder, therefore, whether some of what has been said is not perhaps misleading in terms of its efficacy.