Work and Families Bill

As the chorus behind me is pointing out, that would be illegal. The hon. Gentleman makes the argument that we heard when we introduced right to request, when we introduced the national minimum wage, when we introduced adoptive leave—in fact, on every occasion when we have tackled that agenda. Conservative Members such as the hon. Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) and the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) recognise that it is an important agenda. It is about time their party adopted a positive approach to it. As soon as we get anywhere near setting up decent, civilised, minimum standards in the workplace, we hear a chorus of, ““This will reduce people’s ability to recruit staff.”” Yes, that is a crucial concern that needs to be tackled and we have tried very hard to ensure that it is, with some success.