Exiting the EU and Workers’ Rights

Debate between Clive Lewis and Ian Paisley

Monday 7th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Clive Lewis]

I did not know that, but do you know what? It does not surprise me in the slightest.

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

Will the hon. Gentleman explain why, during the 1970s and 1980s, when I was a teenager growing up in the part of the United Kingdom where I live, the unemployment level was regularly over 30%?

[Ian Paisley]

No, there was a Labour Government.

Today my children, aged 18 and 19, see an unemployment level of 5% or 6% in some areas. Will the hon. Gentleman explain the analysis that he has given to the House, suggesting that there are no jobs? There are jobs, and there are opportunities for people.

[Clive Lewis]

I think that the peace process—a Labour-oriented peace process—would have had a great deal to do with that.

[Clive Lewis]

I will make some headway now. I can see that you are agitated, Madam Deputy Speaker.

[Ian Paisley]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Is it right for the hon. Gentleman to use the peace process as an excuse for unemployment legislation?

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

As the hon. Gentleman knows, it is not for me to decide whether what a Member who has the Floor is saying is reasonable or otherwise, but I am sure that the hon. Member for Norwich South (Clive Lewis) will bear in mind what has been said by the hon. Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley), and will moderate the way in which he is using his excellent rhetoric.