Exiting the EU and Workers’ Rights

Ian C. Lucas Excerpts
Monday 7th November 2016

(8 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Clive Lewis Portrait Clive Lewis
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I think you will find that through the employment legislation of the last Labour Government, we made considerable strides on improving workplace rights for working people, so we will take no lectures from the right hon. Lady on workers’ rights.

Ian C. Lucas Portrait Ian C. Lucas (Wrexham) (Lab)
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Will my hon. Friend confirm that the only reason the social chapter was introduced into legislation in the United Kingdom was that we had a Labour Government?

Clive Lewis Portrait Clive Lewis
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You make the point very well. When it comes to the rights of working people in this country, it is only the Labour party that can be trusted to deliver.

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Ian Paisley Portrait Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)
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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 C. Lucas Portrait Ian C. Lucas
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There was a Tory Government then.

Ian Paisley Portrait Ian Paisley
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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.