Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 24 July 1978.
May I advise the Minister, in the classic words, to wait for our party's manifesto and see? In the meantime, if he wants to ask me—-in fact, he did ask me—I will tell him that I think that it would be highly beneficial if exemption were granted to firms employing fewer than 50 people, because there are a number of firms in my constituency which would then be ready to take on more labour than they are now. So I would favour such exemption being granted.
My intervention is designed to point out that the whole of the Industrial Relations Act had to be taken as one. The hon. Gentleman cannot complain, if he takes bits out of it, that they do not have the effect that the whole Act would have had if it had been worked altogether, with a little co-operation from his friends.