Contributions
2,740 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I am very grateful. I have just a couple of points. Obviously, no gap will occur because of this, because the existing provisions are still effective until the provisions are…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)We have continuing engagement with the various enforcement bodies, such as trading standards and the Competition and Markets Authority, through either officials or Ministers. If…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I have concluded my remarks. Question put and agreed to. Clause 229 accordingly ordered to stand part of the Bill. Clause 230 Defence of due diligence and innocent publication…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I thank the hon. Lady for her amendment and her remarks. She will be aware that, ordinarily, when criminal offences are created, it is important and beneficial for Parliament to…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)The hon. Lady makes a very good point. Regulators play a part in this as well by ensuring that the average consumer is assessed correctly and that there is relevant assessment of…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)In chapter 2 of part 4 of the Bill, we are introducing measures to give consumers new rights over their subscription contracts, while ensuring that businesses are not overburdened…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)From the—first we have to get Royal Assent, of course—04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)The hon. Member for Gordon makes an excellent point. As he said, the point was raised on Second Reading. We appreciate the work that society lotteries do in terms of…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Clause 248 places duties on the trader to provide the consumer with pre-contract information set out in schedule 20 before they enter a contract. All key pre-contract information…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I may have misunderstood his point, but I think the example he gave was of a bank closing an account from Twitter. That is the other way around—that is the bank closing the…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Okay, but I think clause 252 is clear that there must be a straightforward cancellation route for consumers to exit a contract. He appears to describe a convoluted route, but I…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I am not sure whether it does or not. I refer the hon. Gentleman to one of my earlier points: it is a straightforward cancellation route. What he describes to me is not a…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)No, I am not giving way, thank you very much, because I want to address the hon. Gentleman’s points. Regarding when these provisions will commence, of course we do not know how…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)Clause 254 sets out that a trader’s compliance with their main duties under this chapter is an implied term in every subscription contract. The clause is necessary as it gives the…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I thank my hon. Friend for his amendment. He is absolutely right to draw attention to this issue. The initial cooling-off period ensures that a consumer has 14 days to cancel…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)The clause sets out that the trader commits an offence if they enter into an off-premises subscription contract and do not provide information about a consumer’s initial…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)The hon. Lady asks me to address her point about the defence of due diligence. The defences listed in the clause are consistent with defences in other areas of the law, so we are…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)I beg to move amendment 79, in clause 264, page 176, line 31, after “period” insert “or date”. This amendment corrects a drafting error.04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)The hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark thinks that trading standards is not the right body; the Government think that it is, and that position—of it not being the…04 Jul 2023HANSARDDigital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (Thirteenth sitting)That is not the feedback that I have heard. I am very happy to see the information that the hon. Member has in front of him and to try to meet those concerns of the trading…04 Jul 2023