Agricultural Wages Board

Absolutely. With the abolition of the AWB, there will be no minimum wage for children under the a...

Does my hon. Friend agree that this is another pernicious, shoddy little policy by the Government...

They are certainly driven by ideology, although the ideology of the Minister of State seems to ha...

What evidence does the hon. Lady have for her statement that all those casual workers will see th...

I will be talking in detail about the seasonal agricultural workers scheme. I just say to the rig...

Will the hon. Lady identify what is special about agriculture? Is it that farmers want to exploit...

I am surprised that the hon. Gentleman, with 380 workers who will be affected in his constituency...

My hon. Friend’s speech is hitting exactly the right notes. Has the former Minister, the right ho...

I will look at that in detail later, but we do not want either a race to the bottom on wages or a...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent case. One point covered by the AWB that scares me is worker...

That is right, and we all know that as we get older we are more prone to illness. A further reaso...

rose—

I will give way later, but I would like to make some progress.

The Government’s own figures...

Is the hon. Lady unaware or simply ignoring the fact that the AWB was debated at length during th...

I am delighted that the right hon. Lady refers to the AWB and the Public Bodies Bill, the so-call...

Many times during the passage of the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004, I and my hon. Friend the M...

That is very interesting. I was just reading some of the responses to the consultation. One farme...

It is quite clear that the proposal to abolish the AWB is not driven by a worry that it holds pay...

Yes, it is.

If the Government are arguing that it is being abolished to enhance pay and conditions, we will h...

I have been making that point repeatedly. The hon. Gentleman has 1,110 people in his constituency...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the case she is making. The Conservative party was once seen ...

Absolutely. It is not even clear whom they support in the countryside, though. I have quoted some...

I am listening carefully to the hon. Lady’s case, which makes it clear that she disagrees very st...

If the hon. Gentleman is so keen to retain the AWB—I know that many in his constituency, includin...

The motion notes that it is

“the Welsh Government’s wish to retain the AWB”.

Scotland...

I think the hon. Gentleman has made that case very well himself. We expect an announcement from o...

Does my hon. Friend recognise that the Secretary of State represents a border constituency? If, a...

Absolutely. The Secretary of State has not only 1,120 agricultural workers, but a food bank, in h...

I apologise, Mr Deputy Speaker, for being late into the Chamber and further apologise if my point...

Clearly, the national minimum wage does not cover it all, which is why it was not abolished under...

Obviously the laws already exist to enable the Health and Safety Executive to fine employers, in ...

That was a good effort from the right hon. Lady. The HSE will clearly continue to exist, but I am...

The Agricultural Wages Board existed when that case came to light, so it clearly did not create t...

The question for the hon. Gentleman is whether conditions will get worse or better when the provi...

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) for securing a debate on this issue....

Will the Secretary of State explain exactly how the board’s abolition will create job opportuniti...

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for that early intervention. If she gives me a chance, I will expl...

I am sure that the Secretary of State will be telling all this to the workers on his estate, but ...

I have to disappoint the hon. Gentleman by telling him that I do not have an estate, and that I d...

Those tools will be extremely helpful, especially for research and development, but in relation t...

As I said earlier, I am absolutely confident that there is a great future for the industry, and t...

I listened carefully to the Secretary of State’s response to the hon. Member for St Ives (Andrew ...

The hon. Gentleman and I have debated these issues over many years, and we simply do not agree. W...

I absolutely share my right hon. Friend’s confidence in the future of agriculture. As he will kno...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who picks up on the earlier question that the shadow Secretary o...

The right hon. Gentleman asks me a direct question. We are two years away from the next election,...

I think my hon. Friend will take that as a no.

rose—

I give way to my esteemed predecessor.

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, who has now asserted more than once, as has his predec...

I am grateful to the right hon. Lady for that question. There are modest administrative savings f...

Is the Secretary of State saying that enhanced statutory sick pay is an outdated term and conditi...

The hon. Gentleman has misunderstood. All the existing conditions continue.

As I say, aboli...

I wonder whether the Secretary of State will answer a question that was asked many times but neve...

All sorts of options were considered, but we concluded that the answer was to abolish the board, ...

The Secretary of State has repeatedly mentioned the national minimum wage and the fact that it wa...

In October this year, the Government will raise the national minimum wage by 12p an hour to £6.31...

Will the Secretary of State promise that if the wages and terms and conditions of agricultural wo...

I cannot promise anything. It is up to individual employers. What I do know is that employers thr...

rose—

I have already answered the hon. Lady’s question. She takes a completely black view of the econom...

rose—

I am going to press on. Other Members want to speak.

I believe that agriculture needs to en...

rose—

Order. I think 12 Members wish to speak in the debate. I am reluctant to set a time limit, so if ...

The Agricultural Wages Board is important in constituencies such as mine—rural communities where ...

Given that the hon. Lady knew about the decision in 2010, has there not been adequate time betwee...

I am not the Government, so I cannot respond to that question. Had I been the Government, I would...

The problem was not just the lack of consultation with the public, but the lack of consultation w...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman. This is not a decent way for a Government to behave. Hon. Member...

I am glad to have the chance to speak in this debate. I have been getting increasingly frustrated...

Can the hon. Gentleman tell us what members of the Farmers Union of Wales told him in response to...

I can. The FUW members supported the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board. The FUW as a unio...

I deal with about 9,000 pieces of casework a year and I have not had a single farm worker write t...

The hon. Gentleman speaks with great knowledge because he represents an area suffering those hard...

Does my hon. Friend agree that if we believed that abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board would ...

I think that my hon. Friend is wrong on only one point: he says that the Labour party does not un...

May I just confirm that, as a former barrister, I neither belong to a union, nor am I financed by...

It might surprise the hon. Lady to learn that I am not a member of the Government and so I am not...

The hon. Gentleman said that the motion is somehow sponsored by unions. It is nothing of the sort...

The hon. Lady will forgive me if I note that pretty much all the electronic traffic we have seen ...

I begin by telling the hon. Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) that ...

I represent a constituency north of the border, where this discussion has no real relevance or im...

This issue certainly matters to people across the whole of the United Kingdom because, even thoug...

I have a great deal of respect for the right hon. Gentleman, but the National Farmers Union brief...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question. I am genuinely worried that wages will fall...

I am not sure that I follow the right hon. Gentleman’s logic, so could he talk us through it a li...

If the hon. Gentleman will let me develop my argument, he will see that this is not just about pa...

Is it not right that over the past 15 or 20 years, the Conservative party has always taken away w...

My main worry is that the assessment of the Welsh Assembly that some £26 million to £28 million w...

This is a difficult debate, and I am grateful to the Labour Opposition for having brought it forw...

Can the hon. Gentleman define for me what a large farm is? Is an intensively farmed three-acre po...

The hon. Gentleman might be drawing me into a different debate, but he knows about standard man d...

The backdrop to this terrible and petty Government measure is the fact that real wages have falle...

I have been listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman, but does he recognise that 41% of farm wor...

As my hon. Friend the Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) said from a sedentary position, that mea...

If the hon. Gentleman is so determined on the matter of the Agricultural Wages Board, why did the...

I would take those on the Government Benches more seriously if—pardon my slight diversion, Madam ...

I worked in the farming industry for 10 years and was involved in this debate when the issue was ...

I should have said that, like my hon. Friend, I too was an agricultural worker and worked on our ...

Equally, we could say that the introduction of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority deals with som...

I want quickly to comment on a point before my hon. Friend moves on. Surely gangs now have that p...

My hon. Friend is right and underlines my point that the GLA has made the AWB ever more redundant...

I am following the hon. Gentleman’s argument closely, but cannot understand why anyone would want...

The group of people the hon. Gentleman is concerned about are protected by the minimum wage. That...

The hon. Gentleman states that this is a progressive pay policy. In the past 30 years, have a Con...

I do not want this debate to get distracted, but even in the current Parliament the coalition Gov...

I endorse what my hon. Friend is saying. I, too, was a farmer in the 1990s, and know that farmers...

My hon. Friend makes an incredibly good point. Farming has changed.

The biggest farm employ...

I start by declaring an interest: as deputy general secretary of the old Transport and General Wo...

The hon. Gentleman obviously has a great deal of expertise, and I agree entirely with his points ...

We have an atomised work force. There has been a progressive change in employment patterns from w...

My hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (George Eustice) suggested earlier that farmer...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to be concerned about a race to the bottom. There are tens...

I am most grateful, particularly when I was not able to be here for the opening speeches. I agree...

The board was born out of the experience of the agricultural economies. I have already said that,...

rose—

Order. I remind the House that the debate is time-limited, and must end at 5.47 pm. It will be ne...

I am grateful for that guidance, Madam Deputy Speaker. Let me begin by drawing the House’s attent...

I am pleased to take part in the debate. I have a constituency interest, and I led for the Opposi...

I am proud to say that I still consider myself to be very much part of the farming community. I w...

Ministers have still not convinced me about why they want to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board...

What I actually said was that the members of that union in my constituency who have approached me...

Well, farmers in general want to be fair to their staff, and I would certainly say to the hon. Me...

I support the Opposition motion to resist the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board. Governme...

On occasions such as this, at the closing of a debate, we often hear words about what a fine deba...

I have been chairing a meeting of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee this afternoo...

The hon. Lady says she has been contacted by just three, but three is three, and I know for a fac...

My hon. Friend is making a powerful case. Members on the Government Benches have asked what Labou...

I welcome the opportunity to do so, because it has wrongly been said that we have already made up...

The hon. Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) did the House a service ...

Will the Minister give way?

I will because the hon. Gentleman has some knowledge on this subject and I therefore welcome his ...

Will the Minister tell the House at what point and why he moved from believing that the abolition...

There were a number of points. There was the introduction of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of...

Will the Minister give way?

I am afraid I have no time left.

Opposition Members are telling us that the basement protec...

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the Quest...