Shailesh Vara: On the question of the role of trade unions, I would have thought that, in the present circumstances where much advice and information is available to the individual that was previously provided by the unions, it is better to advise employees of other options rather than simply encourage them to join a trade union. That is only one option, but I am mindful that I may be straying from the main...
Shailesh Vara: The hon. Gentleman is regularly referring to the absence of funding for the CRE, citizens advice bureaux and like. But those bodies are not there to act as adjudicators and lawyers themselves; part of their function is to refer to lawyers who do have access to the necessary funds, through legal aid. He is therefore proposing a duplication of something that already exists.
Shailesh Vara: Legal aid is available to anyone who has a just and valid cause.
Shailesh Vara: Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to make my maiden speech. My constituency, North-West Cambridgeshire, is relatively new, having been created in 1997, and I am only its second Member of Parliament. However, the area that the constituency covers has a long and distinguished history and many eminent people have left their footprints in its soil. My immediate...