Lists of Trade Unions and Employers' Associations

Orders of the Day — Trade Union and Labour Relations Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 July 1974.

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Amendment made: No. 4, in page 5, line 29, leave out ' or ' and insert: ' on 30th September 1971 or was registered at any time '.—[Mr. John Fraser.]

Photo of Mr Christopher Tugendhat Mr Christopher Tugendhat , City of London and Westminster South

I beg to move Amendment No. 61, in page 5, line 33, at end insert: '(5A) The Registrar shall not under subsection (3) above enter the name of any organisation in the relevant list unless he is satisfied that the organisation applying to have its name entered in the relevant list has made adequate provisions for complying with the requirements of sections 7 and 8 of this Act '.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

With it we may also take Amendment No. 62, in page 5, line 37, after association ', insert: 'or that it is not complying with a requirement imposed upon it by this or any other Act'.

Photo of Mr Christopher Tugendhat Mr Christopher Tugendhat , City of London and Westminster South

We do not propose to press these amendments. We had a very thorough discussion on these matters in Committee and I think that each side made its views clear to the other. The only reason we are raising the matter at this late hour is that the Minister of State, as reported in column 407 of the Standing Committee report, gave the undertaking that he would look into the question of union records. He suggested he was not entirely happy with the situation as it was. He said he would come back to the House on Report, and these amendments would appear to give him the opportunity to do exactly that.

Photo of Mr John Fraser Mr John Fraser , Lambeth Norwood

As the House knows I was not a member of the Committee, but I have read the reports of the debates which took place. The hon. Member for Woking (Mr. Onslow) will subsequently be moving an amendment which will be accepted by the Government.

It is a matter of judgment whether the amendment is necessary. We have had another look at the matter. Only a tiny handful of trade unions would be denied access to the register because most of them would go on to it automatically, and an even smaller, possibly infinitesimal number of trade unions might find their way off the register if the amendment were accepted and if they did not observe the provisions of Clauses 7 and 8 as now drafted.

We believe that it is probably better for the registrar to be able to identify trade unions which may be in breach of the obligations under Clauses 7 and 8. We believe that these duties are absolute. We believe that that ought to apply to trade unions and that penalties ought to follow.

We think that on balance it is better that they are not denied registration because the chances of identifying something going wrong on the register are probably higher than if they are not identifiable at all. I hope that the Opposition accept our judgment on this. We have examined the matter carefully. There will be a minor change proposed later, which can be accepted. I hope, therefore, that the amendment can be withdrawn.

Photo of Mr Christopher Tugendhat Mr Christopher Tugendhat , City of London and Westminster South

On that basis we are prepared to withdraw the amendment. Clearly the Government agree with us in the nature of our concern. They have a different view as to how that concern can be tackled and only time will tell whether they or we are right. In the light of what the Under-Secretary has said about this amendment, and about the acceptance of a later amendment, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.