Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]

I commend the Minister on the way in which she has handled being dropped into this compost heap of a Bill at short notice, and probably into the most complicated part of it. We have no particular problem with the Government amendments, the purpose of which is largely to tidy up and to deal with the devolution question. However, we do not think that the Government have approached this issue with the right perspective. It is important to remember that 90 per cent. of the work force employed in the construction sector are employees of businesses consisting of six or fewer people. At present, the larger organisations have the whip hand. We fear that the views of the much smaller businesses that constitute the majority of the industry are not being heard, and are not being reflected in the Bill. That is why we have raised the issue of the balance of power between payee and payer in amendment 20 and consequential amendments 9, 10, 11 and 16, and the whole subject of conditional payments. The hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) will raise similar issues involving insolvency. Although we agree that there is a wrong to right in the existing system, and I understand the Minister when she says that we need a tightening of the provisions, clarity and certainty, we feel that our amendments would achieve greater fairness, reduce complexity and minimise the amount of regulation that will be necessary. Our amendments would reduce the verbiage in clauses 139 and 140 by more than 50 per cent. They are supported by the Federation of Small Businesses, the Specialist Engineering Contractors Group and Unite, the union. Although the Government proposals try to redress the balance and to create equality between the payee and payer, we are saying that, in effect, it is always the payer who has the greater power and that the arrangements will still leave the payer with the greater power, because the bargaining power of the payee is unequal. Our proposal is based on contracts legislation in New Zealand and other legislation in Australia, and we think that there is a precedent for pursuing that line. I hope that the Minister will heed the words of the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson), which are echoed on the Liberal Democrat Benches. We feel that there is consensus on the issue and that there is a need to move forward.