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Quote from Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbots in Hansard (Lords) 18 March 2008
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| (Wednesday, 26 March 2008) Written by Jane Pallant |
| 'When we finally finished the Companies Act, the Minister’s predecessor, the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, kindly threw us a party, which we had in the offices of what was then the DTI and is now DBERR in Victoria Street.
It was a jolly affair. There was one man there who I thought looked rather down at the mouth about life. I went to talk to him because I thought that this was an occasion for an hour’s release from prison. It turned out that he was the parliamentary draftsman. I thought he was down at the mouth because we had extended the Bill from 600 to 1,200 clauses or, alternatively, because parliamentary draftsmen are by their very nature gloomy souls. It was not that. He said that it was all very well for us because we had finished with the Bill but he had to pick up the consequential amendments. I asked how many there were and he said that there were between 2,000 and 3,000. I had some sympathy with him, and this afternoon, faced with 73 pages of closely packed type, I have even more sympathy with his predicament that October evening.' Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, in Hansard (Lords), 18 March 2008, Cols GC 32-33. Debate in the Lords on the Companies Act 2006 (Consequential Amendments etc.) Order 2008.
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