New clause 3 - Fixed-term work: Northern Ireland
Employment Bill
11:15 am
Mr Alan Johnson (Minister of State (Employment and the Regions), Department of Trade and Industry; Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle, Labour)
I wish to thank the members of the Committee, all of whom contributed to the debate, apart from my hon. Friend the Member for Derby, North (Mr. Laxton), who has been as silent as a Trappist monk because of the conventions of Parliamentary Private Secretaries. The thought of my hon. Friend as a monk frightens me.
I wish to thank you, Mr. Amess, and your co-Chairmen for your excellent chairmanship of the Committee. I wish to thank the Opposition, both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats—I know that they are vying for the position of official Opposition; long may they do so—who provided opposition in the best parliamentary tradition. In particular, the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge has done much for the Committee. He has been assiduous and unfailingly courteous. We have had some hairy moments, but the Opposition have been responsible in every way.
We shall all wonder what to do with our time on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I wish to thank all members of the Committee for their excellent participation.