Employment Bill [HL]

I am in great agreement with the noble Lord, Lord Lester, with one exception, which I shall explain briefly. First, some noble Lords seem to omit the central question that it is the obligation of this Parliament to change the legislation to enact the principle in the case of ASLEF in the human rights court. Some noble Lords appear to want to ignore that obligation but I am very glad that most Members are quite clear that we cannot do so. Secondly, Clause 17—if anyone has not read the ASLEF judgment, I have a copy here—as the government paper explained, is a straightforward attempt to enact the sensible principle of the judgment in the ASLEF case. Thirdly, what we are about is finding a formula that will understandably satisfy those who think that there might be a case of something—perhaps exceptional hardship or some words of that sort—to mitigate the clause. It is quite ridiculous to try to draft that in Committee. We all know that the Government are thinking about it hard, and we all know that something will come back to us on Report. No doubt, lots of people will meet lots of other people and talk to them on the telephone, and that is what is going to happen. It is quite absurd to try to draft it today. I suggest that this proposal should be withdrawn and outside this Room, on some other occasion, we can all get on with finding a formula that achieves consensus in the House.