UK Parliament / Open data

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill

I am glad to hear that, but I wonder where all the briefing in the Sunday newspapers yesterday, including The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph and others, came from. I am sure that the Treasury had absolutely nothing whatever to do with that. We, of course, have already called for the full implementation of the High Pay Commission’s recommendations, including the proposals for employee representatives on remuneration committees, which the Government continue to refuse to implement.

On copyright, the proposals in clause 56 to amend the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which I think the Secretary of State mentioned, are broadly drawn and, in our view, need greater clarity, not least to indicate that this power cannot be used to weaken the copyright regime.

Let me conclude. It has admittedly been something of marathon working through this Bill because it is such a hotch-potch of measures. As I have explained, there are parts of the Bill, taken separately, that we support in principle and will seek to improve in the later stages. However, other parts, particularly relating to employment, are, as drafted, simply unacceptable. Yet again, after going through all this, we find ourselves back where we started: in a big black hole when it comes to helping businesses to create enterprise, generate wealth, and grow. There is no compelling vision, no confident message about how we are to pay our way in the world, and no connected approach across Government to drive growth. That is the point that we sought to make in our amendment, which I commend to the House.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
546 c88 
Session
2012-13
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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