Contributions
1,586 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)There is quite a lot in this grouping, and I will try to go through it in a sensible order. I will start with new clause 29 and amendment 135. The Regulatory Policy Committee has…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)How can I say no to the offer of an excellent example from my hon. Friend?10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I understand the hon. Gentleman’s point. I broadly agree, but my challenge to him is that reasonableness can be interpreted in many different ways. There will always been an…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I will just finish this thought; the hon. Lady knows that I am not shy about taking interventions. Every business, even if it has only one or two employees, will know what the…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I am not certain that is quite the point that my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk was making. However, in the interest of fairness, I will commit to properly looking up…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Ninth sitting)I understand the point the hon. Gentleman is making. However, in the examples he gave he has shown exactly why there is a need to ask the Government to doubly rethink the way in…10 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I understand the Minister’s point, but this is a Government Bill; I accept that it is derived from their manifesto and from their political priority. Notwithstanding the…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Eighth sitting)I beg to move amendment 136, in clause 7, page 25, line 5, at end insert— “(1AZA) But where the employer is— (a) the Security Service; (b) the Secret Intelligence Service, or (c)…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly sensible point. We will come on to that issue shortly. The central point that I ask the Government to reflect on, before any…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I do not want to repeat the whole debate that we had the other day as we might not hit the clause that the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues are trying to get to today. I fully accept…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that intervention, because she underlines the fundamental point that I am making: most businesses do not want to turn people away. Convenience…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I can think of businesses in recent times in my own constituency that are particularly affected by shipping delays, some as a result of the covid pandemic, which I accept was an…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I do accept the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. It is helpful to have this debate to tease out the core issues. The point I would put back to him is that those small…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I will finish this point and then give way —the hon. Lady knows that I am up for the debate. There could be a pretty stark choice: go bust and no jobs, or some short-term…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I can assure the hon. Lady that I am intimately aware of the cost of childcare. It is something that challenges families—men and women, mums and dads, carers, grandparents and all…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)The hon. Gentleman makes a fundamentally good point about issues such as modern slavery. Actually, it was a former Conservative Prime Minister—I accept that we had a few in the…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I am tempted not to give way to the hon. Gentleman, since he seemed less than keen to take my interventions in the farming debate yesterday, but I will grant him an intervention…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman makes, and I fundamentally agree with his point about bereavement leave and dependant leave. As we heard in the evidence sessions, I…05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I will give the hon. Gentleman one more go.05 Dec 2024HANSARDEmployment Rights Bill (Seventh sitting)I understand the point that the hon. Gentleman makes. Actually, at no point have I said there should be no cost to the employer; I have said there needs to be flexibility, as…05 Dec 2024