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

I understand that that is a movable feast as far as the Government are concerned, and I should hate to intrude on private grief. I look forward to 12 March, when perhaps the Chancellor of the Exchequer will finally be able to tell us exactly what is going to happen. [Interruption.] He will not be in purdah on 12 March, and I rather hope that he will be able to tell us exactly what is going on. As for non-doms in this country, I suspect that what they want is a bit of certainty. They want to know exactly what sort of taxation the Chancellor—he is the person in charge of this—is considering. They want to know exactly what impact the Budget or any announcements that have been made in the past will have on them, just as any workers who would be affected by this legislation will want to know what impact it would have on them. That brings me back to devolution. As I understand it, the Bill covers the whole of the United Kingdom, so it would be useful to find out the views of the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and the Northern Ireland Assembly and whether they would want to have an input into it, deviate from it, or try to have a complete derogation from it. That is where pre-legislative scrutiny would have been interesting. We have two other private Members' Bills before us, both of which are cross-party on the basis of their sponsors. If the hon. Member for Nottingham, East thought that his Bill was so good and wholesome, it is a bit disappointing that he was unable to find somebody from another party to share their support for it. I do not know whether he asked any Members from other parties or just asked his mates in order to get the 10 signatures needed to take the Bill forward. I always think that it is somewhat better for a private Member's Bill, if it is to have any chance of getting through whatsoever, to have not only Government support but the support of the whole House. I am waiting to hear what the Minister says before I finally decide whether I can support the Bill. I want to see the same sort of protection for all the workers in this country as the hon. Gentleman does, but I do not want to see any unintended consequences that may damage their rights.