Jerome Mayhew

I am grateful for that direction, Madam Deputy Speaker. Let us move to Lords amendment 120N. This is a major new policy. We do not have to argue about whether a £118,000 cap is a good or bad idea. I think the cap is a good idea, but the amendment seeks to clarify the process by which the Government have decided to impose this measure in the Bill. It was not part of the manifesto. It was not part of the Bill or discussed in the Bill Committee. It has just been inserted at the last moment in ping-pong. There has been no risk assessment, no impact assessment, and no consultation. The amendment does not put the Government off course. All it asks the Government to do is, within three months of Royal Assent, “conduct a review of the limit imposed by this section on the amount of the compensation awarded”. That consultation only has to consult employers’ organisations, trade unions—one would think Labour Members would be in favour of that—and “organisations representing employment law practitioners, and such other persons as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.” If the Government choose to implement policy on the hoof, the least they can do is undertake a consultation that they should have carried out—