Member

This gives the Minister a chance to put the record straight. As my noble friend explained, these clauses amount to a systematic gutting of the powers, responsibilities and independence of the certification officer, who is the only regulator tasked with ensuring that trade unions uphold transparency and lawful conduct. That fact alone should give this House cause for serious concern. So I echo my noble friend’s words: what is going on here? I am not sure that I would have invoked Animal Farm, although I can see why Eric Arthur Blair—whose pen name was, of course, George Orwell—would have been thinking about the Big Brother angle. Big Brother was coined by George Orwell, and it gives us an opportunity to question the Government about what is happening here.