Lords
Debate
21 July 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I too congratulate my fellow solicitor, the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, and my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond on their amendments.
We are following up on the exchanges that took place at Question Time earlier today, when the Minister—the noble Lord, Lord Vallance—offered to give…
My Lords, I rise briefly to support my noble friend Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay’s amendment, supported as it has been by very effective speeches from the noble Lords, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, Lord Berkeley and Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and the noble and learned…
Lords
Oral Questions
17 July 2025
Syria: Druze Community
In order to achieve the last two things that the noble Lord advocated, we need that ceasefire to hold. It is very early in the ceasefire; it is only a matter of hours. We will do whatever we need to do to encourage that to happen, but it is vital that that ceasefire continues. As many noble Lords ha…
Lords
Debate
16 July 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Goddard of Stockport, that, as we warned when we discussed it in Committee, Clause 26 was, as originally drafted, quite simply unworkable.
As we reminded noble Lords throughout Committee, the clause was far too broad. It would have captured entirely routi…
My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their thoughtful contributions to this important debate. We are very grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, for having raised what is a profoundly important issue, one that deserves very careful consideration by your Lordships’ House.
As my noble f…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
14 July 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, this has been a very important debate and I thank the Minister, the noble Baronesses, Lady O’Grady of Upper Holloway, Lady Goudie and Lady Ramsey of Wall Heath, the noble Lord, Lord Cromwell, and my noble friend Lord Lucas for their contributions. In particular, I congratulate and thank th…
Lords
Debate
14 July 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Goddard of Stockport, for his amendments. I agree very much with the approach my noble friend Lord Ashcombe has taken. We are fully in agreement that workers deserve reasonable notice of shifts. That is a fair and modern expectation. What we cannot accept or su…
My Lords, Amendment 28 simply asks for a degree of common sense. It would preserve a minimum one-day waiting period for statutory sick pay by lowering the qualifying threshold from four days to two, rather than removing the threshold entirely, as the Government now propose.
We have heard a great de…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
10 July 2025
4 contributions
Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [HL]
I wonder if I might gently intervene. The noble Lord was not present, but my noble friend Lord Fox and others from our Benches reminded the noble Lord, Lord Epsom, and others from those Benches that this Bill was drafted by the previous Government with the Henry VIII powers as they appear in the Bil…
I am sorry: the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe.
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
2 contributions
Falkland Islands: Fisheries Exports Tariffs
My Lords, we fully recognise the challenges that these tariffs pose for the Falkland Islands. These tariffs stem from the fact that the Brexit deal reached under the previous Government does not cover the overseas territories, and the EU has been clear that it is not willing to reopen the fundamenta…
I thank the noble Lord for his question. He is right on the importance to the Falkland Islands economy; it is key. Over 90% of their fishing exports are sold to the European Union, and €15 million-worth of tariffs is having a genuine effect on their economy. One of the reasons we are in this place i…
Lords
Debate
24 June 2025
3 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Norton of Louth. He is not only a great author and academic, but he is regarded as a world authority on constitutional issues, and he has certainly been described as the greatest living expert on Parliament, so we take very s…
My Lords, I rise to move Amendment 324A and to speak to Amendments 324B and 324C on behalf of my noble friend Lady Coffey; I will also speak to my opposition to Clause 151 standing part of the Bill.
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
24 June 2025
9 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to amendments 310, 311, 312 and 319.
If I may start with Amendment 311, I stress that productivity is vital for growth. The Government’s own impact assessment of the Bill is lacking in many areas, but it correctly identifies productivity as a problem in the UK workforce and …
My Lords, this has been such an important debate. We have been throwing statistics around the Chamber as if they had just been invented. The very latest statistic that I have in front of me, published in Business Matters , is that:
“Britain has recorded its highest number of company closures for tw…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 June 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Coffey for her amendment. She raises thoughtful and important questions about Parliament’s role as an employer and the complexity of managing the site, which contains over 600 other employers. These are legitimate concerns that deserve proper consideration, not…
My Lords, Amendment 279GA would introduce a sunset clause to ensure that the extension of time limits for bringing employment tribunal claims is subject to periodic parliamentary oversight. I will speak also to Amendments 330ZA, 330D and 334A in my name.
I have tabled these amendments along with my…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
18 June 2025
6 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, in moving Amendment 271ZZA, I will also speak to Amendments 274 and 278, standing in my name.
Clause 91 requires the Secretary of State to set out a plan for enforcing labour market legislation over a three-year period. However, as currently drafted, Clause 91 lacks the flexibility necess…
My Lords, this has been a very significant debate, because I believe it is the first time I have heard from the Government Front Bench an acceptance that the Opposition will eventually take over government again. He and I may disagree on when this will happen—of course we disagree: I just happen to …
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 June 2025
6 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, Amendments 263 and 330 standing in my name require the Secretary of State to conduct a consultation on the effects of the provisions in Part 4 on the operation of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 and to report on the outcome and any proposed changes. It is a mo…
My Lords, I am disappointed that the Minister does not wish to engage in responding positively to this amendment. My noble friend Lady Coffey put it very much in context, and my noble friend Lady Verma stressed again the complexity of what we are talking about so far as small and medium-sized enterp…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
16 June 2025
5 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, Amendments 247, 248 and 250 stand in my name and in the name of several of my noble friends. Amendment 247 requires the Secretary of State to consider whether sufficient measures are in place to prevent workplace intimidation before approving any balloting method other than postal ballot.
…
My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend Lord Jackson of Peterborough. I had not thought, when preparing my address, to look back to 1834. The only time I ever talk about 1834 is recalling that on 16 October 1834, this whole place burned down and gave rise to the new mother of parliaments we …
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Oral Questions
11 June 2025
2 contributions
United Kingdom Jobs Market
My Lords, a near-record number of people are in employment. This has been driven by a fall in economic inactivity, which is now at its lowest rate since 2023. For people in work, real earnings have continued to grow. We want to continue this trajectory and achieve our long-term ambition of an 80% em…
I thank the noble Lord for his question. I have enjoyed debating issues around the Government’s flagship Employment Rights Bill with him during some fairly lengthy Committee sessions. Given the debate we had last night, I am somewhat surprised that he returned to this field. We discussed just yester…
Lords
Debate
10 June 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Jackson of Peterborough and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, for their amendments and contributions to today’s debate.
I speak to the amendments in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom, where we seek to make the provision of facilit…
My Lords, I will quickly follow and agree with my noble friends Lady Coffey and Lord Jackson of Peterborough in their speaking against the amendments in this group. We feel that these amendments collectively represent a dangerous and retrograde step that would just take us back to the industrial cha…
Lords
Debate
10 June 2025
6 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, Amendments 215 and 332 are in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom. They insert a right for trade union members to switch off—to ignore contact from union representatives outside their own working hours.
Let me be clear at the outset that we on these Benches do not see…
My Lords, the noble Lord has to face the reality of the situation when looking at today’s world, where trade unions represent only 12% of private sector workers. He tells the Committee that this provision is not necessary now, but we are entering a new era. It is one that I recall vividly, when I fi…
+4 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
5 June 2025
11 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I start by saying how pleased we are to see my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond in his place. I had the privilege of moving his previous amendments in his absence, but we are delighted to see him back with us and I thank him for proposing this important amendment.
The way my noble fri…
My Lords, this has been a very important debate, and I thank my noble friends Lady Barran and Lady Coffey for their amendments in this group. We have had some very interesting real-life examples given by my noble friend Lord Agnew of Oulton, and an important dimension from the noble Lord, Lord Prent…
+9 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
3 June 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton, for so clearly setting out the case for a range of amendments. As he made clear, the matters under discussion go to the heart of how we uphold standards for those who work at sea, an essential part of our economy and infrastruct…
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, and my noble friends Lady Lawlor and Lord Jackson of Peterborough because they rightly question whether this clause is necessary to establish what we all agree should be the vital place for equality of opportunity.
It is vital in the workpl…
Lords
Debate
3 June 2025
7 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, as we have already heard from the noble Viscount, Lord Colville of Culross, my noble friend Lord Holmes of Richmond cannot be with us today, so I will move his amendment on his behalf and speak to the others in this group. In doing so, I declare a past interest as a consultant to the Royal…
My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister, who always responds positively to any suggestions that I make, particularly in the corridors of this House. I should have declared not only my long-standing work with the Royal National Institute of Blind People but the much-appreciated instructions that…
+5 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
21 May 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, this has been such a valuable debate, for a number of reasons. We are grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Aberdare and Lord Knight of Weymouth, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Wolf of Dulwich and Lady Garden of Frognal. In many ways, it gives us an opportunity just to see where we are going, …
My Lords, as we move to consider Clause 26, I believe Amendments 113ZA and 113B bring essential clarity, balance and proportionality to the Bill’s treatment of contract variation.
In last week’s debate, we discussed how recent changes to statutory sick pay might prompt employers to scale back or mo…
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
19 May 2025
4 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, Amendment 97 stands in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom. I am delighted that my noble friend Lord Jackson of Peterborough and the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, have also signed this amendment.
As we look back over the debates we have had on Clauses 19, 20, 2…
In order to get his speech off to a really good start, can the Minister include his defence of the red rating given to those impact assessments by the Regulatory Policy Committee, a completely independent assessment?
+2 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
19 May 2025
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, I commend my noble friend Lady Morrissey on moving this important amendment. She speaks from her own personal experience with wisdom and understanding, in particular on the whole issue of investigation and action. I also agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer: the victim can so often f…
Lords
Debate
13 May 2025
Employment Rights Bill
I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Fox, whose fox has not been shot.
This has been such an interesting, important, fascinating and deeply moving debate. We owe a debt of gratitude to the noble Lord, Lord Palmer of Childs Hill, for very positively introducing the fact that unpaid carers are the backb…
Lords
Debate
13 May 2025
2 contributions
Employment Rights Bill
My Lords, after what has been a fascinating, wide-ranging and important debate on statutory sick pay, I would like to focus on the impact that these changes are going to have in particular on absenteeism, on short-notice shifts and on enhanced sick pay schemes. So I shall speak to Amendments 74A, 74…
I am very grateful to the Minister. We have had a very important debate. I am particularly grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Fox of Buckley, because we have not really spent enough time worrying about the people who are just unable to cope. Working conditions have changed so much. Stress-related …