Companies: Online AGMs

Lord Fox Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

We are putting this forward in the modernising corporate reporting consultation to clarify the legal situation for fully virtual AGMs, as I mentioned, to bring the certainty into line with other international jurisdictions. We are engaging with investors on what those shareholder rights and safeguards might look like, so that if shareholders and businesses want to move to fully virtual AGMs, we will know what they might be. Examples could include five-year shareholder votes or best practice or guidance of that kind.

[Lord Fox (LD)]

My Lords, if it is the Minister’s prediction that it is left up to shareholders to make the decision, the institutional shareholders will always outvote the individual shareholders. That is why individual shareholders should have their day at an AGM. When I organised AGMs for the three FTSE companies that I worked for, the chairman and I worked very hard on preparing for the questions that the awkward squad would be coming up with at those AGMs. To remove the proximity of the shareholder from the chairman is to lose that important check. Will the Minister go back and make sure that this is a firm part of the consultation?

[Baroness Lloyd of Effra (Lab)]

All noble Lords and the noble Baroness have raised the importance of AGMs. They are incredibly important. They are important for engaging shareholders, large and small, but particularly, as has been mentioned, those who perhaps do not have an institutional voice. We are engaging with investors and the shareholder representative organisations on what the shareholder safeguards should be, so that will be taken into account in the consultation.