Clause 1 — Powers of the Secretary of State

Part of Orders of the Day — Fire Services Bill – in the House of Commons at 8:30 pm on 3 June 2003.

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Photo of John Martin McDonnell John Martin McDonnell Labour, Hayes and Harlington 8:30, 3 June 2003

I shall speak to my amendment No. 14 in a moment. However, the Pinochet of Runnymede and Weybridge has excited me in respect of his vision for the future of industrial relations in this country. We should perhaps phone Anfield now, because he mentioned Merseyside as one of the areas that would not accept an imposed settlement. He would first introduce strike bans in such an area, then ban trade union membership and, if people still went on strike, he would presumably bring the full force of the law against them.

That was the Pinochet model, and he also usually had people crowded into football stadiums. Under the hon. Gentleman, Anfield and other football stadiums would be fairly crowded.