Power of Secretary of State to Suspend the National Minimum Wage in the Case of National or Local Economic Emergencies

Part of Orders of the Day — National Minimum Wage Bill – in the House of Commons at 11:15 pm on 9 March 1998.

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Photo of Mr Tim Collins Mr Tim Collins Conservative, Westmorland and Lonsdale 11:15, 9 March 1998

I agree with my hon. Friend, as I am sure he would agree with me that the Government are guilty of any number of fatal conceits, which will no doubt lead to their imminent demise.

I disagree with one small part of what my hon. Friend said, in that he advanced only one possible theory for the Government opposing new clause 8. There is another theory, which is that they are already beginning to hear the flapping wings of the chickens presently stacked over Heathrow but ready to come down to roost over Downing street. They fear that the powers given in new clause 8 to a Secretary of State would soon be powers exercised not by a Labour Secretary of State but by a Conservative Secretary of State. That is part of the reason why they are not sympathetic to new clause 8.

My hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham rightly points me in a new direction, which is the Government's stance on this matter. Is it their contention—which would be the logical consequence of them opposing such a reasonable, modest and mild provision—that there are no circumstances whatsoever in which a minimum wage could deter employment, impede enterprise or restrict the ability of those who are working for another group of people to do so effectively and efficiently? If that is the case, we can only wonder why they propose to exempt the self-employed, the armed forces and those under the age of 26.

Why did the Deputy Prime Minister, in a famous Sunday television interview, observe, "Of course the minimum wage will cost jobs; any silly fool knows that"? That was a rather welcome outburst of candour from the Government, yet their attitude to new clause 8 is inconsistent with that.

If the Government believe that, even in normal economic circumstances, members of the armed forces should not be subject to the Bill's provisions; if they believe that, even in normal economic circumstances, people under the age of 26 would be difficult to employ if they were subject to a normal statutory national minimum wage; if they believe that, even in normal economic circumstances, self-employed people would find it excessively onerous, bureaucratic and a deterrent to their ability to create wealth and jobs to fulfil their commitments under a statutory national minimum wage, surely they recognise the powerful argument of my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry, that, in circumstances of acute economic crisis and distress of the sort that we have discussed this evening, the whole economy or, alternatively, some parts of it, either geographical or according to particular businesses, might require some assistance.

New clause 8 is something of a test for the Government—a test of logic. The logic of Ministers' position on a series of other issues is that they should accept new clause 8. The new clause is a test also of their commitment to democracy, as it would include in the Bill new powers that would be clearly constrained by requiring reference back to the House. It is a test of their commitment to recognising potentially serious economic circumstances. It is a test also of their flexibility.

Earlier in the debate, we heard the Minister say, in a most extraordinary remark on a different clause, that an amendment was excessively prescriptive. If ever a Bill was prescriptive, it is this one: it gives the Secretary of State power to dictate by order the amount that people may be paid for performing jobs. New clause 8 is anything but prescriptive. It would give the Secretary of State power to intervene to suspend the Act; it does not require intervention. It does not say that, in certain circumstances, a Secretary of State might find himself or herself hauled up before a court or other body for not invoking it. Discretion is left to the Secretary of State.

Time after time, we have seen in the history of Labour Governments how often it has been necessary for provisions to be in place enabling emergency measures to be taken. How many previous Labour Chancellors of the Exchequer or Prime Ministers would have liked to have some means of getting themselves out of the holes into which they had dug themselves?

In passing new clause 8, the Government would get something for nothing—an additional discretionary power—which they should not fear. The new clause's provisions are consistent with what Ministers have said before. They can oppose it only if they are out of kilter with their previous statements and not as confident as they pretend to be of being in office for perpetuity.