Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill

Baroness Primarolo Excerpts

Friday 22nd October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Nuttall]

rose—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. May I gently remind the hon. Gentleman about the remarks made at the beginning of this debate about a new way of debating in the House? He has been speaking for nearly 40 minutes. If he has set the scene, I would be grateful if he now dealt with the details of the Bill.

[Mr Nuttall]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will indeed. If I may, I will deal briefly with the intervention made on me, and then bring us up to date and consider the detail of the Bill.

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. I hear what the hon. Gentleman says. He has set the scene, so he can deal with the intervention. However, I then expect him to address his remarks to the Bill.

[Mr Nuttall]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I will indeed.

My hon. Friend the Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) is right about the devastating effect of industrial action such as that to which he referred. In the case in question, it looks as though the action was specifically arranged and organised to hurt people who had waited all year for their holiday. Therefore, it is not surprising that the law drawn up in 1999 should expect the highest standards of compliance. In view of what you have said, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will skip over the next portion of my remarks. Let us jump forward to the late 1970s. I think that this is relevant, because that was the time when trade union powers reached what could be described as their zenith.

--- Later in debate ---

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order.

Let me also remind the hon. Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall), before he rises to reply to his hon. Friend’s intervention, that I have already told him very specifically that, having spoken for after 40 minutes, he should end his general remarks and begin to deal with the contents of the Bill. Before he replied to the earlier intervention, he assured me that he would do that, but he then broadened the debate. I should be grateful if, in replying to the intervention from the hon. Member for North West Leicestershire (Andrew Bridgen), he would refer directly to the Bill.

[Mr Nuttall]

I certainly will, Madam Deputy Speaker. To be fair, I think that I have already dealt with my hon. Friend’s point. I agree that there is a danger that that will happen if the Bill is allowed to proceed in its current form. However, I think it relevant to point out briefly—very briefly, and for the good of the trade union movement—that trade union membership has halved since the 1980s, from 13 million to 6.5 million. I fear that if the Bill were allowed to proceed and a further period of industrial unrest were to follow, there could well be a further decline, perhaps—although it is not for me to say—a terminal decline in union membership.

Let me now do what you have rightly asked me to do, Madam Deputy Speaker, and turn to the detail of the Bill.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Nuttall]

My hon. Friend makes a good, reasonable point. The law would not be clarified in any way by the Bill, but there is a real danger, as I have pointed out, that it would take us back to the situation we faced in the 1970s and 1980s. Much of the case law would be made redundant, and we would face yet more legal actions—

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

I know that the hon. Gentleman wants to make a number of points on the Bill, but he is repeating himself; he has come back to those points on a number of occasions. Perhaps he could carry on with the rest of his comments, rather than telling the hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke) what he has already said.

[Mr Nuttall]

I will indeed. I was just dealing with the intervention.

--- Later in debate ---

[Philip Davies]

rose—

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. I think that the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) has already made that recommendation about how the Bill could be better drafted. We might be repeating the point.

[Philip Davies]

It is a red letter day for me, Madam Deputy Speaker, because I have just found out that you were listening to my speech.

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[Madam Deputy Speaker]

Order. May I say, Mr Davies, that I listen to every Member of the House’s speech, and I particularly listen when you are speaking. As you are such an accomplished parliamentarian, it behoves the Chair to concentrate.

[Philip Davies]

You are very kind, Madam Deputy Speaker. It really is a red-letter day now. I shall put that in the literature I will distribute at the next election. However, what surprised me was not just that you were listening to my speech, but that anyone was listening to it. I am afraid that my experience is usually otherwise.

I hope that the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington will accept at least some of my suggestions of alternative ways in which to promote his side of the argument.