Part of Clause 57 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 February 1971.
Is it not a fact that, under the 1871 Act, unions have a right to register or not, but the majority of the unions, because there are certain benefits, in regard to money and so forth, are registered? But if a union is not registered, it is not penalised, as will happen under the Bill. In other words, it is to the union's advantage to register, and most unions are, but they do not have to register. That is what we mean by a voluntary system.