Employment Rights Bill

Baroness Gray of Tottenham Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gray of Tottenham (Lab) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, it is a huge privilege to stand here today. I start by thanking noble Lords on all Benches for the warmth of their welcome. I thank my supporters, the noble Lord, Lord O’Donnell, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Harman, for their personal encouragement, and of course my noble friends the Leader of the House and the Chief Whip. I also thank all the House staff, including the doorkeepers, digital services, catering, post and cleaning staff, for their patience and for so ably showing me the ropes these past few weeks.

My job today is to introduce myself and my background, and, I hope, to make a small contribution to today’s debate. My mum and dad came to London from Ireland in the 1950s, moving into a rented flat in Tottenham, the place I came to know as home. I grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles and cousins, who all played an important part in my life. My parents were proud to be Irish, and this was not the easiest of times to be Irish. They also embraced life in Britain, working hard to provide for their family and creating a home. My dad always had a minimum of two jobs and my brother and I were instilled with a strong work ethic, built on values of fairness, community and respect for others. I left school before completing my A-levels, on the early and unexpected death of my dad. My brother and I had to support our mum, who struggled with her mental health, before taking her own life some years later. The death of our parents had the biggest impact on our lives.

I joined the Civil Service at the most junior grade, which is why I chose today’s debate, and I commend the work of my good friend the Deputy Prime Minister and her team for the work and consultation they put into this legislation. On joining the Civil Service, I was not on a mission to work my way to the top. This was probably best illustrated when I took a career break which has been much commented upon. Put it this way: although the Civil Service encourages its future leaders to get outside experience, running a pub in Newry, County Down, in the late 1980s, was not on their list for outside placements. But a pub is a great place to get to understand communities and their needs, worries and aspirations. Throughout my career, I have learned, to take the words of the late Jo Cox, that we have more in common than that which divides us.

On returning to the Civil Service, I did indeed start working my way up. Some of the issues I worked on included creating the propriety and ethics function, which included conducting one or two high-profile investigations; establishing public inquiries into Grenfell Tower and infected blood, on which I wish to pay huge credit to the former Prime Minister the noble Baroness, Lady May of Maidenhead, for her steadfast commitment to ensuring the truth was told; initiating the scheme to bring prison leavers into the Civil Service, where my path first crossed that of the trailblazing noble Lord, my noble friend Lord Timpson, who recognised the importance of giving people a second chance; the boardroom apprentice scheme to encourage people from all backgrounds to serve on the boards of public bodies, an important part of the reform agenda which goes to the heart of the opportunities mission. Here I wish to acknowledge the work of the noble Lord, Lord Maude of Horsham, and the noble Baroness, Lady Finn, who provided the positive backdrop that allowed these initiatives to be developed and flourish—thank you.

Between 2018 and 2021, I undertook the role of Permanent Secretary in the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department of Finance. This was a very different experience for me, and demonstrates again the range of opportunities that exist in the Civil Service. The return of the Executive brought its own challenges, including working in a mandatory five-party coalition, which made the 2010 coalition seem remarkably straightforward.

Returning to Whitehall in 2021 allowed me to put into practice the benefits of closer and collaborative working with devolved Governments and mayors. Devolved government is an important and integral part of the architecture of this country, and the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, was a big part of that in Northern Ireland. I will continue to be a strong advocate for it from my position in your Lordships’ House.

A number of the senior officials with whom I had the privilege of working are now Members here, and I wish to say a personal “thank you” for their support. I also want to remember three important people in my career, who are sadly no longer with us: Baroness Jowell, Lord Prescott and Lord Heywood, who were exemplars of the very best of public service. I would also like to thank those who guided me in the challenging last few years of my career in and around Downing Street—whether working in it or investigating it—including Dave Penman and the FDA team. I am not sure what it is about the mention of my time in Downing Street that brings me to the issue of job security and employment.

More seriously, I want to return to my first set of jobs in what was the Department for Social Security, working in employment support, as it is highly relevant to today’s debate and to the future of our Civil Service. Back then, I worked with truly heroic and committed people, striving every day, in very difficult circumstances, to help people in even more challenging situations. They were the Civil Service at its best: on the front line, as far away from Whitehall’s machinations as it is possible to be. Today, I see the same sort of brilliance. What these and other civil servants are doing is central to the Government’s—and the nation’s—mission to bring growth back into our economy and security to our society. That is why I would caution all of us to be careful, not only about our decisions but our language also. When we hear phrases with “blobs”, “pen-pushers”, “axes”, “chainsaws” and other implements, they hear it too.

Difficult decisions are needed, of course, and the Civil Service will be keen to be part of any reform journey, but we need them and other public servants to succeed. I will continue to support a progressive Civil Service. I hope others will do the same. Thank you.