Trade Union Bill (Programme) (No. 2)

Tuesday 10th November 2015 Commons Chamber

Motion made, and Question proposed,

That the following provisions shall apply to the Trade Union Bill, in place of paragraphs (4) and (5) of the Order of 14 September 2015:

(1) Proceedings on Consideration shall be taken in the order shown in the first column of the following Table and shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the times specified in the second column of the Table.

Table

Proceedings	Time for conclusion of proceedings
New Clauses and new Schedules relating to ballot thresholds for industrial action; amendments to clauses 2 and 3; new Clauses and new Schedules relating to information requirements in relation to industrial action; amendments to clauses 4 to 6; new Clauses and new Schedules relating to electronic and workplace balloting; new Clauses and new Schedules relating to the timing and duration of industrial action; amendments to clauses 7 and 8.	Two and a half hours after the commencement of proceedings on the motion for this order
New Clauses and new Schedules relating to picketing; amendments to clause 9; remaining new Clauses and new Schedules; remaining proceedings on consideration.	6.00 pm on the day on which proceedings on Consideration are commenced.

(2) Proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 7.00pm on the day on which proceedings on Consideration are commenced.—(Nick Boles.)

14:09

[Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab)]

I do not want to detain the House and I will not seek to divide it on this matter, but it is important to put on the record that we sought more time for the remaining stages of the Trade Union Bill, and that time has been further truncated by a lengthy statement on Europe. Suffice it to say that if the Government continue to use programme motions in this way, and insert statements to truncate debate on very controversial matters, it will only serve to weaken this place and its ability to scrutinise legislation, and to strengthen the other place, which I am sure will be very keen to scrutinise further the Bill when it arrives there after today’s proceedings.

14:10

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

Like the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan), we sought additional time. This is a highly controversial Bill, with much media interest, and there were 50 Divisions —on all the clauses—in the Public Bill Committee. Every clause was up for debate, and the timetable for today does not allow the whole House to give every clause the same scrutiny. Ideally, we would want more protected time to discuss all such Bills, and to be able to debate all the clauses in this Bill.

14:11

[The Minister for Skills (Nick Boles)]

Just briefly, because I want us to use this time for the purpose for which it was intended, let me say that the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) knows full well that, when it comes to his own contributions, what matters is quality, not quantity. He did not have the advantage of joining us on the Public Bill Committee, but he was no doubt informed by the Opposition representative on the Committee that it finished early. We did not use the full amount of time allocated under the programme order in Committee. I believe that the Bill has received proper scrutiny.

14:12

[Mr Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon) (Con)]

The Opposition are protesting somewhat too much. When I looked at the amendments tabled for today, I was absolutely amazed by the lack of amendments on very important parts of the Bill, which may have been discussed in Committee—[Interruption.] Opposition Members say they did not have the time; they had the time to table amendments but did not do so, and today we will not debate very significant parts of the Bill that I think should be debated.

Question put and agreed to.