Clause 22 - Limitations of emergency regulations
Civil Contingencies Bill
11:00 am
Mr Patrick Mercer (Newark, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 63, in
clause 22, page 15, line 31, at end insert
'with the exception of industrial action that would lead to the endangerment of human life or property, or cause illness or injury'.
The amendment is tabled in my name and those of my hon. Friends the Members for North-East Hertfordshire and for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans). I hope that there will be no non-plussing during the discussion, as the amendment is very simple.
Clause 22 addresses the limitations of emergency regulations. Subsection (3) states that emergency regulations may not
''(b) prohibit or enable the prohibition of participation in, or any activity in connection with, a strike or other industrial action.''
Amendment No. 63 would add to the end of subsection (3)(b),
''with the exception of industrial action that would lead to the endangerment of human life or property, or cause illness or injury''.
The right to strike is something that the Bill seeks to uphold, and rightly so. However, in the circumstances, our imagination should be allowed to travel a little further to appreciate the implications of a strike of crucial emergency services, road hauliers who provide food or any other firms whose right to strike in normal circumstances would be a sine qua non.
In the event of an emergency, a different light is thrown on the right to strike. This time last year, the firemen's strike was raging—if that is the right word to use. That prompted a different strand of thinking because not only did it endanger life at the time, but it seemed likely in January and February that we were about to fight a war against Iraq and, in the past, the Army had been used to overcome strikes by firemen. Some would argue that the Iraqis and the Iraqi cause are a current and present danger to the safety of the British Isles.
It would be wrong to allow firemen to strike when a large part of the infrastructure is either in flames or contaminated by the terrorist activities that we have described. To consider the likely effects of such an emergency not just at the site of the incident, but across the country, let us take the example of a terrorist attack in the south-west that happens to
coincide with an ambulance strike in Scotland. It is highly conceivable that Cornwall might need ambulances all the way from Scotland. That might be difficult to imagine at the moment, but in a Bill with these sorts of provisions it is important that we take our imagination one stage further.
Amendment No. 63 is designed to get the Government to explain how crucial services might be forbidden from striking. The Scottish ambulances would be needed not just at the scene of the incident in the south-west, but across the nation. The amendment would ensure that the emergency regulations cannot prohibit a strike or other industrial action unless the service that is on strike is crucial to ameliorating the emergency that has already occurred. I hope that the Minister can illuminate that point.