Private Equity (Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employment) Bill

There has been a lot of discussion this morning, and I should like to suggest that a key word is balance: we must balance the fair treatment of workers with the need to respond to the private equity market and the contributions that it can make. Private equity has increased a great deal, as the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) said. Figures from the TUC show that one in 12 private sector workers are employed by private equity companies. The TUC has outlined its concerns, and I have looked carefully at the points that it has made. It is worried, because private equity threatens to erode the unions' ability to influence business. That is a reasonable concern, and it deserves consideration.