Work and Families Bill

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time. This Bill, which has enjoyed a positive reception from both sides of the House during its passage, is pro-family and pro-business. These aims are not mutually exclusive, but mutually supportive. Flexible working increases the number of people who are able to work, which widens the talent pool for business. More importantly, it gives parents a genuine choice when making the difficult decisions about how they balance their work and family lives. That is why these measures are an essential component of an enabling state. The Bill extends paid maternity and adoption leave. It extends to carers of adults the right to request flexible working. It also gives fathers the opportunity to play more of a role in their child’s upbringing, and it makes it easier for employers to administer these rights. These are progressive policies that respond to profound changes in our workplaces and our homes. It is therefore curious to read that the Leader of Her Majesty’s official Opposition, the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron), is apparently against the measures. Having pronounced his commitment to social justice and espoused the causes of trusting people and sharing responsibility, he now sides with some of the more reactionary elements of society in arguing to prevent fathers from exercising a choice with their partners to take a more prominent role in caring for their child. I know that the right hon. Member for Witney, together with his hon. Friends on the Conservative Benches, voted against every single family-friendly measure that this Government have introduced, from extending maternity leave, maternity pay and paternity leave to the right to request flexible working. They also voted against giving adoptive parents help for the very first time in dealing with the difficult task of taking children into their homes. We genuinely hoped that there had been a change of heart, and that there would be a progressive consensus behind the Bill.