Lord Londesborough (CB)

My Lords, I promise to be very brief. I support all the amendments in this group. The arguments are building for the establishment of an independent freelance commissioner, mainly because the number of freelancers is growing and will continue to do so in the face of increasingly adverse conditions for both employers and employees. The current 2 million freelancers could easily grow to 3 million within the next 10 years, as employers continue to shed staff from payroll because they are weighed down by increased NICs, national minimum wages in excess of inflation, and some of the onerous new rules and regulations coming along in this very Bill. I have argued that we could broaden out the need for an independent commissioner for the self-employed—who total about 4.5 million in this country, and the number is growing—but I will leave that issue to the next group, as it is addressed by my noble friend Lord Freyberg’s Amendment 167. In conclusion, freelancers offer a great diversity of skill sets and flexibility in an economy that is suffering from stagnation and rigidity. They deserve greater recognition, and I implore the Government to take the proposal for a commissioner seriously. I absolutely agree with the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, that we do not want a toothless, woolly token champion; we need an advocate with teeth—let us hope that that is what we will see.