Tabled by Lord Dykes To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what response they have given to the request made by the
TUC General Secretary on 7 December that the United Kingdom secure
full European Union Single Market membership to protect workers’
rights. Viscount Waverley (CB) My Lords, on behalf
of...Request free trial
Tabled by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have
given to the request made by the TUC General Secretary on 7
December that the United Kingdom secure full European Union
Single Market membership to protect workers’ rights.
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(CB)
My Lords, on behalf of the noble Lord, , and at his request,
I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the
Order Paper.
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Prior of
Brampton) (Con)
My Lords, we do not need to be part of the EU single market
to have strong protection for workers’ rights. The
Government will not roll back EU rights in the workplace.
All workers’ rights enjoyed under EU law will be preserved
by the great repeal Bill and will be brought across into UK
law.
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My Lords, on behalf of myself and the noble Lord, , I thank the Minister
for his reply, which follows on from the article by the
Prime Minister in the 8 January edition of the Sunday
Telegraph. The Minister has touched on this, but will he go
one step further and reassure the House and the TUC that
all the relevant directives will be contained in the great
repeal Bill?
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My Lords, the Prime Minister has said that, under this
Government, workers’ rights will not be eroded and will be
not just protected but enhanced. The Government’s
commitment is absolutely clear. As we regain sovereignty
over these issues it will be up to subsequent Parliaments
to make these decisions themselves.
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(Con)
My Lords, it is a sad day when the TUC no longer has faith
in the , the Liberal Party and
this British Parliament to defend the rights of British
workers. Is it not the case that British workers enjoy
rights far beyond EU requirements, for example in respect
of maternity pay?
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Yes, there are many examples where people who work in the
UK have stronger rights than those guaranteed in the EU.
Maternity rights are one case and rights to statutory leave
are another example.
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(Lab)
My Lords, can I probe a bit harder about how robust these
assurances about the great reform Bill are? At the weekend,
the Chancellor said that if the EU takes a hard approach to
the negotiations, the British Government are going to have
to go downmarket and undercut our EU neighbours on
corporate tax. Will the same thing not happen on labour
standards? Is there not a big risk that the Government will
be forced by the logic of Brexit into undercutting and
beggar-thy-neighbour policies?
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My Lords, it would be a huge misjudgment and mistake for
any British Government to think that eroding the rights of
UK workers and making them less engaged and productive
would contribute in any way to us being more competitive.
In the same way that we want to have low tax rates, we want
to have a fully engaged and well-trained workforce.
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(LD)
My Lords, as the Minister confirmed, the Prime Minister has
agreed that all workers’ rights enshrined in EU law will be
transferred into UK law—but then “where practical” was
added. Which workers’ rights cannot be practically
transferred into UK law?
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Off the cuff, I cannot think of any rights that would fall
into the area of “not practical”. The Prime Minister went
further: she is committed, as is our whole industrial
strategy, to bringing decent, well-paid, skilled jobs to
Britain, including to many parts of the country where they
have been sadly depleted over many years.
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(UKIP)
My Lords, do the Government agree that it is the single
market which imposes Brussels’ overregulation on the 90% of
our economy that does not sell into it? Do the Government
know how many jobs that has cost us over the years?
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I cannot answer that question specifically. Clearly, being
part of the single market has increased the number of jobs
in this country. The Prime Minister is making a speech
tomorrow about global Britain, and we are absolutely clear,
being part of the global economy, that we believe fully in
free trade and that our country must become more
competitive.
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(Con)
My Lords, should trade union leaders not be very careful
about calling for the United Kingdom to remain in the
single market when that brings with it free movement of
labour, and so many of their members voted leave because
they were alarmed by unlimited immigration?
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My noble friend raises an interesting point, which I think
many trade union leaders recognise. Unquestionably, there
are parts of the country where high levels of immigration
have undermined the wage rates of local people. I think we
would all agree that one of the benefits of having control
over our immigration policy is that we can have a policy
which is more directly suited to our requirements.
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(Lab)
My Lords, why is it that I find it very difficult to believe
every word that I have just heard from the Minister? It
sounds great, and I am sure that parsnips are waiting to be
buttered in order to benefit from that, but it is really not
a very convincing argument from the party that brought
forward the Trade Union Bill in the last Session. Is this not
really about what we will be negotiating for? In its
brilliant paper the TUC has no problem in setting out what
the UK negotiating position should be—why can the Government
not do so?
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My Lords, I think the Prime Minister, in a speech tomorrow,
will be setting out the strategic objectives of our
negotiations and what we are trying to get out of the
negotiations that will take place over the next two years. It
would be foolish of me to speculate in any more detail today
about what those objectives are.
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(LD)
Given the reality of the global economy, surely the only
effective way of protecting employees’ rights is through
international agreements? To avoid international agreements
is merely to undermine the sovereignty of this country.
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My Lords, there are many other aspects apart from
international agreements. When one looks at the performance
of the UK economy, what absolutely stands out above all else
is that in many industries our productivity levels are too
low. Increasing productivity in this country, partly through
better training and skills but also through more investment
in the research base of this country, is the best way to
increase our trade overseas.
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(Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend accept that I get very
confused at times, being a simple-minded fellow, about all
these rights that people keep talking about? Is it not the
case, for instance, that in the United States Volkswagen has
pleaded guilty to criminal misconduct about emissions, has
paid a fine of nearly £4 billion and has offered consumers
more than £12 billion in compensation? Yet in the EU, with
all our rights for consumers and everybody else, so far the
consumer has been offered absolutely nothing. Can he clear up
my confusion and tell me why?
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I fear that clearing up my noble friend’s confusion might
take me longer than I have this afternoon. There is no doubt
that consumers have very strong rights in the US and that
having a very strong, competitive market is probably the best
way to ensure that companies such as Volkswagen behave
properly.
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