Business of the House

Angela Smith Excerpts

Thursday 8th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lansley]

I do recall my hon. Friend’s private Member’s Bill and indeed he correctly anticipated what is clearly a continuing and emerging debate. I will, if I may, talk to our ministerial colleagues at DEFRA, but if he is able to—I am not sure quite how closely it will link—he may find an opportunity, on the first day on Report of the Consumer Rights Bill, to draw attention to these issues, because that Bill is very much about something that I am sure we all believe in, which is giving consumers not only rights, but the information on which they can base their purchasing decisions.

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

There is a sense of urgency about the need to strengthen the public interest test in the context of a further likely bid from Pfizer for AstraZeneca, and the country will expect the Government and the Opposition to work together on that issue. Will the Leader of the House commit to delaying Prorogation, so that we can make the time available to debate the actions required to deal with that situation and to legislate if necessary?

[Mr Lansley]

The hon. Lady will have heard my reply to the shadow Leader of the House. There is no formal bid from Pfizer for AstraZeneca. When the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith) talks about the public interest test, she is no doubt referring to the wider public interest test which the previous Government removed from legislation when they introduced the Enterprise Act 2002. I remember it well because I was a member of the Standing Committee on the Bill at the time. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills was very clear on Tuesday about not only his neutrality in relation to the two parties involved in this, but his open-mindedness about what steps the Government might take in relation to it.