Temporary and Agency Workers (Equal Treatment) Bill

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans). As ever, he spoke a lot of common sense and, as we all know, he speaks with the experience of running a small business. I totally accept my hon. Friend's point that the Bill is well meaning and that nobody is trying to do anything untoward. However, such Bills are born out of a total misunderstanding of what it is like to run a business and an ignorance of the pressures that many businesses face. Many Labour Members see businesses as some kind of cash cow or guaranteed profit-making machine and they believe that all those who run them drive round in Bentleys or Rolls-Royces and exploit workers willy-nilly. The reality is that many businesses, particularly small businesses in this country, are struggling to maintain their current employment levels. All that such Bills will do is put people out of work. I congratulate the hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Andrew Miller) on introducing the Bill. He is a regular and distinguished contributor to Friday debates on private Members' Bills and I am therefore delighted that he has had the opportunity to introduce one of his own. This is the second time that such a Bill has been introduced by a Labour Member. The hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Paul Farrelly) introduced a similar Bill in the last Session and that too had the support of well over 100 Labour Members. The Bill seeks to secure equal treatment for agency workers and will presumably ensure that they are entitled to the same terms and conditions as directly employed workers. The hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston has argued that we cannot turn away from what is a mounting concern for our communities—the legalised discrimination of a significant number of workers in this country. It strikes me that this Bill almost reflects the attitude of the Labour Members who would rather have fewer people in work provided that those who are left are employed under the same terms and conditions. As it happens, I would prefer it for people who have jobs to keep their jobs. That is a noble cause to support, but there is a dogmatic principle that everybody should be paid the same, even if they are a temporary worker. The fact that that worker may then be put out of work seems to be of no consequence as long as everybody sticks to the principle, which becomes an end in itself. I am afraid that I do not share that view; I want to see people in work. The Government are always talking about having to encourage people to get into work, including those who have never worked before. However, at the same time, it seems that the Government's Back Benchers are trying to do something that will stop people ever having the opportunity of getting into the workplace. My hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley spoke about the time that he spent as an agency worker and how that gave him an opportunity to get experience of work and develop a work ethic.