Gender Pay Gap

Lord Lea of Crondall Excerpts

Tuesday 5th March 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I hope I am always eloquent—not always, maybe—but legislating for positive action by discriminating against men, if you like, is not what we want to do. Certainly the Government supports equality of opportunity, but we will not legislate for positive action.

[Lord Lea of Crondall (Lab)]

Can the Minister confirm that the great majority of policies such as those on parental leave come from the blessed European Union? They were negotiated by the social partners—which, translated into English, means the trade unions and the employers—at European level because, on that basis, people would not be undercutting each other by doing it on a national basis.