I thank my right hon. Friend for his intervention. He is absolutely right that these sorts of events could go underground, with restricted access, and, because they will be displaced off campus, they will be beyond universities’ jurisdiction.
I could go on and on about the issues with the tort, but lords from across the House of Lords made them absolutely clear. Consistently attacked from numerous angles, from numerous sources and for numerous months, the Bill has taken two years just to get to this stage. It is flawed in so many ways, although that increasingly seems to be the hallmark of this Government. Even the Minister in the Lords, Earl Howe, was prepared to concede on making the tort a remedy of last resort and limiting it to those who have suffered a loss. In what is perhaps the shoddiest part of the Bill’s progress so far, the Minister before us is now asking us to disregard her own counterpart’s suggestions for improvement in the other place, in the light of no new evidence. If it did not have such potentially damaging consequences for students and universities, it would be ludicrous. It is for the reasons I have just outlined that Labour will oppose the inclusion of this undesirable, unworkable and counterproductive tort in the Bill in the interests of students, staff and even freedom of speech itself.
5.30 pm
On Lords amendment 3, I want to briefly put on record my thanks to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips), who sadly is unwell and cannot be with us today, but also to the noble Lord Collins of Highbury. Between them, they did so much to ensure, through amendments to the Bill, that the use of non-disclosure agreements will be prohibited on university campuses. I want to thank the Government for finally supporting Lord Collins’s amendment in the Lords, but regret that we could not have come to an agreement sooner on the Labour amendment tabled on Report in this place.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley so shockingly highlighted to us all on Report, 300 NDAs were used by universities in student complaints between 2016 and 2020. Shamefully, a third of all universities in England had used such deals in circumstances relating to student complaints. Many were related to sexual assault, although the true scale of the problem will likely remain hidden forever for obvious reasons. In the nearly two years that the Government have sought to stir up culture wars on campus for their own political ends, I genuinely hope that this amendment will stand as a source of hope for prospective and current students that their voices will never be institutionally silenced again.
There is little need to explore the other amendments, as most are technical amendments on which we agree. It only remains for me to thank the Lords for their detailed, meticulous and thorough examination of the Bill. I respect their expertise and learned contributions more widely, but specifically in seeking to remove the otiose clause 4 from the Bill. By voting to remove the tort clause from the Bill, it is clear that their lordships have collectively agreed that it is a wholly unhelpful, divisive and unworkable legal remedy to address complex scenarios in which the right to freedom of speech is questioned.
Labour values universities. Sadly, recent Conservative Governments do not and this one seem bent on destroying what even David Cameron described as the “best of Britain”. We intend to oppose the Government’s amendments this evening, preferring to free our world-class universities, student unions and students from the threat of costly harmful litigation and, just as importantly, their unintended consequences.