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

I congratulate the Minister on having given us almost one hour of good, robust common sense. I sympathise with the hon. Member for Nottingham, East (Mr. Heppell), but my regret is that he has been led up the garden path, perhaps not by the Minister or the Government, but certainly by Mr. Jack Dromey. You know, Mr. Deputy Speaker, how valuable and precious this Friday time is for private Members' Bills, and the hon. Gentleman, who had the good fortune to come fifth in the ballot with the chance to bring forward new legislation that he thought would make the world better for some if not for everyone, chose the Bill, submitted its long title and had every opportunity to discuss it with the Government, but only now, at the eleventh hour, are the Government saying, ““Let's have a round-table discussion.”” I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will eagerly take up that option because it is the only morsel on the table for him to grab, but I want to challenge the Government as to why this mass of information on a technical subject, which had been requested by the Treasury Committee last July, was not provided sooner. The Committee pointed out, in paragraph 81 of its report, that several witnesses had said that TUPE applied if assets were bought from a company, but not if shares were bought, and therefore that TUPE did not apply to takeovers. On the other hand, witnesses from the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association said that TUPE did apply to takeovers. The Committee said:"““We ask the Government to clarify the application of TUPE to takeovers in time for the resumption of our inquiry.””" The Minister referred to the fact that he expects the inquiry to be resumed, but I would have expected, as I am sure would the hon. Member for Nottingham, East, that the information requested would have been supplied far in advance of today. If it had been, it would have helped the hon. Gentleman to have had a better-drafted Bill, which did not contain many provisions that even today he has said that he does not wish to apply and which, were the Bill to reach Committee, he would seek to withdraw. There is an issue here about process and the extent, or lack of it, to which the Government are prepared to take Back Benchers seriously. The Bill is supported by 12 of the Minister's right hon. and hon. Friends. In a sense, it does not affect Conservative Members because none of us is a supporter of the Bill, but those right hon. and hon. Gentlemen deserve better from the Government than to have had this long explanation at this late stage. They should have had it much earlier and then the Bill could have been amended, withdrawn or produced on a different basis. We will hear from the promoter of the Bill shortly, but it may be that, in retrospect, he will say, ““Well, if I'd known how the complicated law was, I wouldn't have introduced this measure. Having been successful in the ballot, I would have introduced a completely different Bill.”” I shall not speak at great length, but I should like to put on record the fact that, when the Minister referred to what has been happening in the European Commission, he gave a long quote that included at the end of the sentence the expression, ““at this stage””. In other words, the Commission was saying that it did not want to introduce any change at this stage. I hope that the Minister will be alert to Euro-speak and to the fact that that phrase can well mean that a green or amber light is being given to people, particularly in the European trade union movement, to go on pressing for change notwithstanding the very strong arguments that the Minister has articulated against such changes. It is regrettable that, if the European Commission decided that it would not introduce any more legislation pursuant to the acquired rights directive, it did not just stop and say, ““No, we don't see the case.”” Instead, they said, ““We don't see the case at this stage.”” That introduces an element of doubt and uncertainty, which is undesirable and may well contribute in the end to the sclerosis of European economies. The European Commission almost suggests that, given half a chance, it would like to introduce more regulation and control. That sends out a very bad message. There is quite a lot of irony in what has happened today. Certainly, the relationship between the Leader of the House and Mr. Jack Dromey is well known to everyone. The fact that he has been mentioned as the person responsible for the Bill will cause quite a lot eyebrows to be raised outside the House. I do not know how he will deal with the issue at the dinner table this evening with his wife, but I am sure that quite a lot of us would like to be there to see what happens—if indeed the Leader of the House, who is a conscientious follower of the proceedings here, is aware of what has been happening today, as I am sure she must be. The hon. Member for Nottingham, East has appraised me of his intentions about the Bill for some considerable time; we have the privilege of serving together on the Administration Committee. All I can say is that I sympathise with him about the position that he finds himself in now, and I look forward to hearing what he has to say.