Growth and Infrastructure Bill

Lord Lea of Crondall Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Erroll]

Even better. Passing it does not matter then, but at least it would send the right signal and some people may relax. If, as the noble Lord says, it will not change the unfair dismissals process, we can all proceed happy that that continues. Why object? At the moment, I know that the law is biased in favour of the employee, not the other way round. With that, I will sit down. I would love to see other things tried. At the SME end, we need signals sent by the Government, and this is one.

[Lord Lea of Crondall]

My Lords, I think that it is fair to say that the noble Lord, Lord King of Bridgwater, has some of the best political antennae in the business. I therefore think that we can look forward with some interest to the response of the noble Viscount, Lord Younger of Leckie. In debate in Committee, precisely the proposition made by the noble Lord, Lord King—that in effect people could say, “You can only get this job if you sign up to the scheme”—was made. The Minister said:

“I have not seen the guidance”—

the 3,000-page guidance—

“but I do not believe that it will say that”.—[Official Report, 6/2/13; col. 289.]

Two questions arise. First, can the Minister tell us definitively this afternoon, before we vote, whether the noble Lords, Lord King of Bridgwater and Lord Pannick, are correct or incorrect: yes or no? I will not detain the House, but what baffles me, picking up the point made by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Bristol, is how on earth the Government got the idea that this was convincingly presentable as part of the moral platform for modernising capitalism. As I think that the right reverend Prelate said, straight out of the Bible we have the precept, which is probably in the Koran as well, that you do not sell your birthright for a mess of pottage—that was Esau, I recall. Let me dub this Esau’s clause. It is incumbent on the Minister to give us a brief reply on that question.

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean]

My Lords, I think that this is a positively dreadful clause. Perhaps I should declare three interests as a former Minister of Employment, as chairman of a start-up run by my daughter and as someone who has set up a number of businesses in the past. I could not believe the clause when I read it. It seemed to involve two really good things. I have much sympathy with what the noble Earl had to say about the burdens placed on businesses and the costs of going to an employment tribunal, but that is an argument about the extent to which employment protection legislation should apply and the costs associated with sorting out whether there has been an injustice to employees.

Employee share ownership is a very desirable thing up to a point. It can go too far if your salary and your savings are tied up in the shares of the company that is your employer but, as a general principle, giving people a stake or encouraging people to take a stake in the business is part of being a good and successful employer. I very much agree with what my noble friend Lady Brinton had to say about creating a culture in a company where people can feel part of a team and motivated. The idea in this clause has all the trappings of something that was thought up by someone in the bath, taking these two ideas together and believing that they made for a great scheme. In fact, it is damaging to both. I do not propose to reiterate the careful and precise arguments that the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, made in moving this amendment, which I support and which I will vote for if he chooses to divide the House on it.