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| Labour's Angela Eagle condemns 'draconian' trade union bill | Labour's Angela Eagle condemns 'draconian' trade union bill |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Angela Eagle, the newly appointed shadow business secretary, has accused the government of mounting a draconian attack on trade unions despite evidence that strike action has fallen by 90% over the past two decades. | Angela Eagle, the newly appointed shadow business secretary, has accused the government of mounting a draconian attack on trade unions despite evidence that strike action has fallen by 90% over the past two decades. |
| MPs are due on Monday night to vote on the second reading of the trade union bill – which represents the biggest crackdown on trade union rights for 30 years. Despite opposition by Labour and the Scottish National party to the bill, it is likely to pass to committee stage with ease. | MPs are due on Monday night to vote on the second reading of the trade union bill – which represents the biggest crackdown on trade union rights for 30 years. Despite opposition by Labour and the Scottish National party to the bill, it is likely to pass to committee stage with ease. |
| Related: The Guardian view on Labour’s shadow cabinet: gambling on the economy | Editorial | Related: The Guardian view on Labour’s shadow cabinet: gambling on the economy | Editorial |
| The bill includes plans to: | The bill includes plans to: |
| In a rowdy debate, Eagle sat alongside Jeremy Corbyn, who took a seat on the frontbench for the first time in his 32 years as an MP and was attending his first debate as Labour leader. | In a rowdy debate, Eagle sat alongside Jeremy Corbyn, who took a seat on the frontbench for the first time in his 32 years as an MP and was attending his first debate as Labour leader. |
| Pointedly thanking her opposite number Sajid Javid for organising the debate on the first day back in parliament after her party’s leadership election and the appointment of the shadow cabinet, Eagle said she was a “lifelong and proud trade unionist”. | Pointedly thanking her opposite number Sajid Javid for organising the debate on the first day back in parliament after her party’s leadership election and the appointment of the shadow cabinet, Eagle said she was a “lifelong and proud trade unionist”. |
| Related: David Davis attacks 'Franco-style' sections of Tories' trade union bill | Related: David Davis attacks 'Franco-style' sections of Tories' trade union bill |
| “I am dismayed that we have a government which believes in attacking trade unions rather than working with them in the spirit of social partnership to improve efficiency, economic efficiency and productivity in our country,” she said. | “I am dismayed that we have a government which believes in attacking trade unions rather than working with them in the spirit of social partnership to improve efficiency, economic efficiency and productivity in our country,” she said. |
| “It saddens me beyond words that we’re here today dealing with the most significant, sustained and partisan attack on six million trade union members and their workplace organisations that we have seen in this country in the last 30 years. With the number of days lost to strike action down 90% in the last 20 years there is absolutely no necessity whatsoever to employ the law in this draconian way.” | “It saddens me beyond words that we’re here today dealing with the most significant, sustained and partisan attack on six million trade union members and their workplace organisations that we have seen in this country in the last 30 years. With the number of days lost to strike action down 90% in the last 20 years there is absolutely no necessity whatsoever to employ the law in this draconian way.” |
| Javid told parliament that while unions had been instrumental in “consigning the dark satanic mills to the history books”, the workplace had since changed greatly. “Now it’s time for the way unions work to change too. This bill will make that change,” he said. | Javid told parliament that while unions had been instrumental in “consigning the dark satanic mills to the history books”, the workplace had since changed greatly. “Now it’s time for the way unions work to change too. This bill will make that change,” he said. |
| Related: Vince Cable condemns 'vindictive' trade union bill | Related: Vince Cable condemns 'vindictive' trade union bill |
| “Unions helped my father when he first worked on the cotton mills and they helped him again when a whites only policy threatened to block him from becoming a bus driver and, just as the workplace has evolved and improved since that time, so the trade unions and the laws that govern them have developed too. | “Unions helped my father when he first worked on the cotton mills and they helped him again when a whites only policy threatened to block him from becoming a bus driver and, just as the workplace has evolved and improved since that time, so the trade unions and the laws that govern them have developed too. |
| “In 2015, nobody would argue for the return of the closed shop, I would hope – a show of hands, a vote in a dimly lit car park or a wildcat walkout enforced by a handful of heavies – which is why the party opposite repealed not a single piece of union legislation during their 13 years in power.” | “In 2015, nobody would argue for the return of the closed shop, I would hope – a show of hands, a vote in a dimly lit car park or a wildcat walkout enforced by a handful of heavies – which is why the party opposite repealed not a single piece of union legislation during their 13 years in power.” |
| The Green party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas, accused Javid of pretending that the bill was about democracy when it was actually an attack on working people. “If it’s really about democracy, if it’s really about opening things up, then why isn’t he lifting the ban on unions balloting online,” said the MP for Brighton Pavilion. | The Green party’s only MP, Caroline Lucas, accused Javid of pretending that the bill was about democracy when it was actually an attack on working people. “If it’s really about democracy, if it’s really about opening things up, then why isn’t he lifting the ban on unions balloting online,” said the MP for Brighton Pavilion. |
| Conservative MP David Davis told parliament that, although he would be voting for the bill at this stage, he would consider rebelling and voting against at a later stage if concerns about civil liberties weren’t addressed. | |
| “I particularly am offended by the idea that a picket organiser needs to give his name to the police,” he said. “This to me is a serious restriction of freedom of association.” Davis said that he doubted he would be the only rebel. | |
| Speaking on Sky News’s Murnaghan programme on Sunday Davis, who stood against David Cameron for the Tory leadership in 2005, suggested that elements of the bill were reminiscent of Franco’s dictatorship in Spain. | |
| “I agree with most of the trade union bill. I think it’s very sensible … but there are bits of it which look OTT, like requiring pickets to give their names to the police force. What is this? This isn’t Franco’s Britain, this is Queen Elizabeth II’s Britain.” | “I agree with most of the trade union bill. I think it’s very sensible … but there are bits of it which look OTT, like requiring pickets to give their names to the police force. What is this? This isn’t Franco’s Britain, this is Queen Elizabeth II’s Britain.” |
| The number of working days lost due to strikes was 704,000 in the 12 months to April 2015, compared with nearly 13m days lost through strike action on average in the 1970s, the heyday of union militancy. | The number of working days lost due to strikes was 704,000 in the 12 months to April 2015, compared with nearly 13m days lost through strike action on average in the 1970s, the heyday of union militancy. |