Clause 196 - Super-complaints to regulators
Enterprise Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Harry Barnes (North East Derbyshire, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 122, in page 142, line 41, at end insert—
'(1A) The Secretary of State may by order provide that section 11 is to apply to complaints made by a designated producer body in the same way as to complaints by a designated consumer body.
(1B) ''Designated producer body'' means a trade union or other body designated by the Secretary of State by order.'.
The amendment arises from remarks that I made at the end of the second sitting, which were exceptionally
brief because I was not sure that I was in order and wanted to make my point quickly. The hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) said that he was looking forward to my tabling an amendment on the subject, as that would make an interesting debate. He has encouraged me to table this amendment.
My concern is that we have discussed consumers and business—I solidly support the points made this morning in defence of consumers—but not the position of producers and workers in such circumstances. My question is, ''What about the workers?'' In the Committee's first sitting, the hon. Gentleman said that I was ''irredeemably old Labour''. In speaking to the amendment, I shall try to reveal that Labour, old and modern, has many strands.
At the high watermark of what was called Bennism in the Labour party, there was what we called the hard left and the soft left. I suspect that the hard left's belief in the workers would have made them favour my amendment rather than the provisions on consumer bodies that we agreed in clause 11. The soft left's commitment to the parliamentary, rather than the industrial, struggle would have led it to prefer clause 11 to my amendment, as the electorate are all consumers but are not all paid workers. There is a feeling in Parliament that consumers and the electorate are fully interlinked. My brand of old Labour has always represented a third socialist way; neither too hard nor too left. It should not be confused with any other third way, such as the new Labour one. In fact, my brand of democratic socialism is bang up to date and futuristic, as my support of clause 11 and the amendment reflects.
I recognise that the same person can have different, even conflicting, interests in different circumstances and places. They can be a consumer on the high street, a worker at the coal face—of which there are few left—an academic in an ivory tower or someone on the other side of the counter. Part 1 should reflect those interests in relation to designated bodies that can make complaints to the Office of Fair Trading. The OFT would then have the standard, democratic duty to try to reconcile conflicting interests. That is a valuable characteristic of a democratic society, as long as the process does not disadvantage people; that is what the provisions on consumers seek to correct. My amendment recognises that the workers by hand and by brain are not forgotten. They have not gone away, and we cannot function without them.
I mentioned G.D.H. Cole who produced books on guild socialism early in his career. He came to advocate a Parliament comprising a House of consumers and a House of producers. Everyone held the interests of consumers. The House of producers and the House of consumers would be similar bodies under a universal franchise that was still developing at that time. Consumers are now properly and fully represented in the House of Commons. Clause 11 would not have surprised him, as it is in keeping with his thinking and values.
His House of producers was to be a second Chamber and was based on his idea of guild socialism, an industry-based, democratic trade
unionism that covered all workers by hand or by brain in a sort of institutionalised TUC. He believed that consumers and producers would work in harmony with each other, especially as a socialist society was developed and established. He believed that the House of producers should have the final say in any clash of interests with the House of consumers. The House of producers was the nobler ideal, as producers affected the workers more and, in the end, we were all dependent on them.