Employment Bill [Lords]

Liberal Democrat Members welcome the Bill in general—it certainly improves employment law. I should like to pay a small tribute to colleagues in the other place who scrutinised it thoroughly before it came here. That has made our work a great deal lighter. Nevertheless, at the risk of trying your patience, Mr. Speaker, I want to mention a couple of things that we have not been able to discuss, including the mariners and the loss of the opportunity not only to safeguard the minimum wage for staff in the hospitality industry, which the Conservative party proposed, but to strengthen public disclosure of whistleblowing allegations and, most importantly, to help employees to secure the implementation of awards for the national minimum wage. I will move on to concentrate on what we have achieved in the Bill, which is a great deal. It has been described at length by the hon. Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Djanogly), so I will just mention the work that we have done on behalf of low-paid workers and agency workers and the improved dispute resolution procedures for employees and employers alike. We support clause 19, which we feel represents the best balance of freedom of association and the European Court of Human Rights requirements that could be achieved among all the parties. Although we have had our moments, all parties have worked together to improve employment relations. We are happy to support the Bill and, to use the Minister's words in quoting the noble Lord Morris, we wish it well on its way.