My Lords, I am not sure if I regret not being in the Chamber when this was originally discussed, but I would have been in a better position to address some of the issues raised if I had. Reading Hansard you do not quite get a sense of the very strong feelings of noble Lords. As it was almost an empty Chamber when I arrived tonight, I thought I might get off rather more easily than I have.
I completely agree with much of what the noble Lord, Lord Mendelsohn, said at the beginning of his speech. When you have difficult industrial relations in companies or sectors, it is very often not just the fault of the trade unions but of poor management, poor contracts and the like. I completely understand that.
I think the noble Lord, Lord Monks, said that an easy way of appeasing Conservative associations is to bring in hostile trade union legislation. I think we have moved on as a party and are now more enlightened. One noble Lord also said this was a debate about nostalgia; that may be so if you look back at the Conservative Party through the eyes of the Labour Party. We may have set ourselves up to be against trade unions but I agree with the Prime Minister that we are not against workers’ rights. On the contrary, the whole thrust of our industrial strategy is to provide decent, well-paid jobs for people throughout the country.
9.15 pm
The 40% threshold has been debated to death in this House. I appreciate the concerns that have been raised: it is a stringent test. I described it as a robust threshold, which it is because it directly affects particularly vulnerable people. The workers to whom this threshold applies are fairly well defined in the Act. For example, it is not all people who work in the NHS; it is people who work in maternity units, A&E departments or high-dependency units. We have deliberately tried to structure it so that it impacts only on those who are looking after particularly vulnerable people.
The noble Lord, Lord Kerslake, said that it was, on the whole, a fair package and it is. He and the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, raised the issue of electronic balloting. In November, the Government announced that Sir Ken Knight, the former Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser for England, will lead an independent review of electronic voting for industrial action ballots. The final report will be presented to the Secretary of State and laid before each House of Parliament no later than December of this year. So there will be an independent review, though I appreciate it is not as soon as some noble Lords would like.
I shall resist the temptation to be drawn into a debate with the noble Lord, Lord Whitty on political funds.