Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Baker and David Linden

Thursday 14th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Mr Linden, you are now much preoccupied with consulting your electronic device, but if you are still interested in contributing to our proceedings, let us hear you.

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

Mr Speaker, the Secretary of State’s departmental colleague, Lord Callanan, wants to

“scrap the working time directive, the agency workers’ directive, the pregnant workers’ directive and other barriers to actually employing people”.

Which one does the Minister think should happen first?

[Mr Baker]

The Government’s position is that the UK firmly believes in strong labour protections while also embracing the opportunities that arise from a changing world of work. We do not need to stay aligned with the EU to have strong protections for workers, and a key tenet of the Government’s industrial strategy is continually to improve labour standards in domestic legislation.