Employment Rights Bill: Productivity

Debate between Lord Browne of Ladyton and Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Monday 31st March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

There is plenty of time. We will hear from my noble friend first and then from the noble Lord, Lord Fox.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, will be familiar with the Cambridge Centre for Business Research 2024 policy brief, which my noble friend referred to. It is titled The Economic Effects of Changes in Labour Laws, and it tracks changes in legislative protection for workers around the world from 1970 onwards, including in the UK. The conclusions of this research speak directly to the Employment Rights Bill. On 5 March, Professor Simon Deakin, the CBR director and co-author of this brief, stated that

“stronger labour protection is associated with higher employment and lower unemployment”

and that

“laws, including those regulating flexible working, working time, and employee representation, can have positive productivity effect”.

In anticipation of Committee on the Bill, will my noble friend the Minister join with me in inviting Professor Deakin and his research colleague to come to Parliament and to brief us on their findings, and, if they accept, will the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, accept a challenge to put the case that the CBR’s conclusions are not supported by 50 years of global datasets underpinning its research and therefore do not justify the causative link?

Democratic Republic of the Congo: M23 Group

Debate between Lord Browne of Ladyton and Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords—

[Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)]

We will hear from my noble friend Lord Browne and then from the Liberal Democrat Benches.

[Lord Browne of Ladyton (Lab)]

My Lords, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary warned that the conflict in the DRC

“risks spiralling into a regional conflict”.

It is already a humanitarian crisis, with 40,000 refugees fleeing to Burundi alone—the largest influx that country has had in 25 years. Are we contributing to the UNHCR’s $40.4 million appeal to provide life-saving assistance to 275,000 internally displaced people in the DRC and to support refugees and returnees across Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia?