Clause 18
Employment Bill [Lords]
1:15 pm
Pat McFadden (Minister of State (Employment Relations and Postal Affairs), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform; Wolverhampton South East, Labour)
That illustrates the practical problems associated with accepting the amendment. As my noble friend Lord Bach said, it would result in trade unions and a member in such a position playing cat and mouse, and a process that could produce a platform for vexatious actions. As I have said all along, this is delicate territory and we have to proceed with care and caution. That is why safeguards have been built into the clause that take account of the issue raised by the hon. Members for Northampton, South and for Huntingdon about a youthful flirtation that was left behind many years before.
I would also like to say a few words about amendment No. 18, which seeks to provide a definition of “political party”. We do not believe that it is necessary. The statutory provisions limiting the ability of a trade union to exclude or expel persons for their party membership were first introduced in 1993. No definition of political party was thought to be needed at that time, and there has been no evidence since then that not including a definition in the legislation introduced by that Government has caused a problem.
I should also point out that although including registration with the Electoral Commission in a definition of a political party would cover most parties, it would not cover every political party in the country. Emerging parties or parties that do not stand for election in their own name do not need to register. That is precisely the territory that we are talking about with extremist organisations.
There is also a difficulty with the foreign aspect. It is true that it was discussed in the other place, but how can we assume that every other country has equivalent registration systems? I doubt that that is the case. Again, the amendment would create practical hurdles that unions would find well nigh impossible to overcome.