Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, before we get into the general debate, it was not just Gosplan that had a system like that. It was the same under the ancien regime in France. De Tocqueville has in almost his first chapter an illustration of how that went wrong, by giving an account of a curé who applied locally for the replacement of a tile on the roof of his chancel. When the answer came back, the roof had fallen in. It would be a great pity if the Government were to attempt that sort of retribution.