Speeches by Timothy.

“Q Further to a point that Mr Turner made, my recollection of the session on Tuesday was that re-unionisation was first mentioned by Mick Lynch, but we might want to check the record about that. You are obviously pleased with the legislation, and I know you think it could go further; I just want to ask a little about ho…”

“Q Thank you. Can you name a CEO of a real business—not a representative body—employing more than, say, 100 people who would say that this Bill is unambiguously good for the economy? How many of them do you think there are? Justin Madders: I would imagine that there are quite a few.”

“Did you see draft clauses? Liron Velleman: No.”

“Okay. Joanne Cairns? Joanne Cairns: We have been involved in a number of roundtable meetings with DBT, which have been very helpful in understanding what the Government’s intentions are on a number of aspects of the Bill. I do not know exactly how many meetings we have been involved in, but the engagement of DBT with u…”

“But you are not answering my question. I am asking you a question; I would like you to answer it. Liron Velleman: I am not sure how many meetings we have had with Ministers related to this Bill.”

“Mr Speaker, I am not sure if it is in order to raise the travesty of the refereeing decision last night in the Aston Villa-Juventus match, but I thought I would give it a try. The Secretary of State has been warm about the horseracing industry, and I am grateful for that; it is a vital part of the economy in West Suffo…”

“5. What plans she has to support the horseracing industry.”

“That is true. That is a correction.”

“Q But the only real businesspeople who have been here have been unambiguously against it. Justin Madders: I think you will find that the Co-op is a real business, and it employs an awful lot of people.”

“Can you name some? Justin Madders: I cannot name individual CEOs. Octopus has been very positive, Sainsbury’s has been very positive and, as we heard today, the Co-op has been very positive. I think the CBI welcomed the Bill and welcomed the engagement as well, and Make UK too. There are quite a lot of organisations on…”

“Q Do you personally want to see increased unionisation in Britain, and do you hope and/or expect that the Bill will deliver it? Justin Madders: I think that is actually a challenge for the trade union movement. I think that they would accept that this is really up to them. Personally, as a trade union member and someon…”

“Q Indeed. With not just the Bill, but the increase in employer’s national insurance contributions and things like the equalisation of the national living wage for young people—you also mentioned energy prices, Mr Johnson, which are a particular concern of mine—you sound very worried about the future of innovation, inve…”

“But could you answer specifically my questions about how many meetings you have had with Ministers and officials and whether clauses were shared with you? Liron Velleman: I believe that meetings between Ministers and whoever they meet with will be on the public record, so I am sure you would be able to find that.”

“I apologise for my late arrival, Mr Dowd. Two airbases in my constituency of West Suffolk, Lakenheath and Mildenhall, were recently targeted by drones; residents were concerned to hear aircraft being scrambled in the middle of the night to intercept them at the weekend. When the Minister responds, I would be grateful i…”

“Q The impact assessment says that the costs of the Bill are around £5 billion, but earlier we heard that that is actually probably an underestimate and it is likely to be a lot higher. Could you tell us a bit about where those costs will tend to fall for your sectors in particular and how they will relate to other chal…”

“Q My concern is for people who are more at the margins of the labour market. We have touched on this a bit, but I think it is really important that we understand that employing anybody has a risk. If you were to multiply the costs when things go wrong, the risk may not be taken in the first place. In the hospitality se…”

“Q I have three very quick questions, which I think you can answer very quickly. You are obviously very pleased with the Bill, and I know that countervailing power is important and matters. First, would you characterise this as a fundamental act of rebalancing between capital and organised labour? Secondly, as the Bill …”

“Q Employment standards are obviously important and can contribute to higher productivity, but also, if you guarantee and legislate for certain standards, there will be trade-offs, because that brings cost and opportunity costs through lost time. Real improvements to productivity come from things like investment in tech…”

“It is ridiculous that Britain should even contemplate taking some of the 61 Sri Lankan asylum seekers on Diego Garcia as part of its agreement with Mauritius. There are serious concerns in Whitehall that some of those Sri Lankans have criminal records, and there are allegations that some of them may be involved in chil…”

“The Ely and Haughley upgrades are vital for getting freight from Felixstowe off roads and on to rail, reducing congestion on the A14 and providing much-needed relief to villages such as Kentford in my constituency. Can the Secretary of State commit to a timescale for their commencement?”