Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)

My Lords, in moving this amendment, I will also speak to Amendments 129, 131 to 134 and 145 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Sharpe of Epsom. What we are talking about here is the extent to which the Government’s sweeping changes to trade union access rights, including the unprecedented extension of digital access, should apply to small businesses. These changes were introduced without any proper explanation on Report and they have generated serious concern, particularly for our small and medium-sized enterprises, which may suddenly find themselves subject to obligations they neither anticipated nor are equipped to manage. These amendments have been directly endorsed by the Federation of Small Businesses, the principal organisation representing the voice of small employers right across the country. I quote from it directly: “New growth and jobs in local communities rests squarely on our SMEs, which make up over 99 per cent of all UK businesses and employ around 16 million people—disproportionately recruiting those furthest from work. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) supports this amendment, which recognises the distinct nature and limited resources that small employers face when it comes to managing industrial relations in what in many cases are more like family units or teams, than big corporates. They simply do not have the HR infrastructure or legal teams that big firms rely on to navigate complex union access procedures and negotiations. This amendment provides a necessary and vital safeguard by ensuring that SMEs are not automatically subject to trade union access requests or changes to recognition thresholds. Our recent research found that 92% of small business employers are deeply concerned about the measures proposed in the Employment Rights Bill, with 72% specifically worried about the increased cost of compliance, such as the need for specialist HR or legal support. These figures further demonstrate the importance of maintaining proportionate, practical and measured safeguards, such as those contained within this amendment. We hope that Conservatives and Liberal Democrats will back the amendment to delay these measures, and that the Labour Government will agree to it, to guarantee proper consultation, and assessment of the practical impacts on SMEs, and that Parliament considers these before Ministers turn on these provisions”. I beg to move.