Consumer Credit Bill

: The House will be pleased to know that I will not take 39 minutes to make my remarks. I generally support the Lords amendments. My colleague the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb), who was in charge of the Bill for the Liberal Democrats when it was considered on Second Reading and in Committee, generally supported the Government’s proposals, although he made some useful points of detail. In the spirit of his approach to the Bill, I, too, will support the Lords amendments tonight. Lords amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 4 are very technical. They are basically drafting amendments and I have nothing to add to what has been said by the Minister and the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Prisk). On Lords amendment No. 5, I am still slightly worried by the Minister’s reply to my intervention, in which I made the point that the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, if passed, will make that amendment redundant. Liberal Democrat and other Members are very worried about that Bill and hope that it will not receive Royal Assent—obviously, that is for another time—but it is bizarre that we are debating Lords amendment No. 5 when its force may last for only a few weeks before that other Bill is passed. I hope that the Minister will correct the record, because I think that he was wrong earlier in his response to my intervention. I want to focus my remarks on Lords amendment No. 3. The Government have listened to the debates in this House and the other place and have brought in the provision with respect to irresponsible lending to ensure that when the Office of Fair Trading grants a licence to a credit organisation, it can ensure that that organisation does not engage in irresponsible lending. That is a welcome development, but there are points that need to be probed.