Gareth Davies MP: speeches

Speeches

• 8 Jul 2026 · Draft Trade Unions (Permissible Means of Voting) and Employment Rights (Unfair Dismissal) (Amendment) Order 2026 Draft Code of Practice on Electronic and Workplace Ballots For Statutory Trade Union Ballots · Hansard source

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  It is a great pleasure to serve on this Committee and, as always, to see you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. It is also a pleasure to see the Minister in her place. I thank her for the explanation that she offered of the Government’s intentions with the draft order. It is important to make it clear from the outset that secondary legislation is always a balancing act. In this case, the balance is between modernising participation and trade union democracy, and ensuring that the safeguards protecting the integrity, security and fairness of statutory ballots keep pace with the methods used to conduct them. Those aims are not mutually exclusive, and it is our job to ensure that we get them right. To that end—this will be no surprise—I have a set of questions for the Minister, and I hope that she will be able to provide some answers. First, parts 1 and 2 of the draft order will, for the first time, permit electronic, hybrid and workplace voting for statutory trade union ballots, as the Minister said. Paragraph 5.14 of the Minister’s explanatory memorandum explains the Government’s reasoning against the pilot for electronic balloting, but I could not see any equivalent justification for workplace balloting, which, as the impact assessment contained in the memorandum confirms, has not been costed. Will the Minister explain why workplace voting, an entirely new voting method, will be introduced by the draft order without a pilot or costed evidence? Secondly, the Government confirm on page 2 that the trade union itself will be the responsible person determining which voting method or methods are used for its own statutory ballots. Will the Minister explain why the trade union has been designated the responsible person for its own ballots, rather than, for example, an independent scrutineer? How does she seek, under the proposed set-up, to avoid a conflict between the union’s interest in the ballot outcome and its judgment on the practicality and security of the method used? Thirdly, paragraph 9.9 of the explanatory memorandum refers to a requirement for scrutineers’ electronic systems to be independently audited and certified. Will the Minister clarify which body is responsible for enforcing that standard and what happens if a system is found to be compromised or fails that certification process? Paragraph 9.2 gives an estimated annual savings range from “£2.0 million to £8.2 million, depending on the level of take-up”, which is confirmed in paragraph 9.3 as unknown. Why such a massive range from £2 million to £8 million, and why is there not a clearer estimate of the likely take-up of the new methods? As I said, the Government have said in their documentation that it is unknown. Paragraph 10.3 confirms that “A statutory review clause is included in the instrument.” When will that review take place, and what criteria will be used to judge whether the new voting methods have operated safely and fairly? Finally, law firm Morgan Lewis has warned that this statutory instrument “may reduce the scope for successful challenges based solely on procedural irregularities.” What is the Minister’s reaction to that statement? Do the Government accept that the measures will narrow employers’ practical routes to challenge a ballot’s validity? Overall, the draft order forms part of the wider Employment Rights Act 2025, which, as we in the official Opposition have consistently said, has damaged jobs and opportunity across our country. My party’s long-standing and long-held policy is therefore to oppose any parts of the legislation that we believe hand unions sweeping powers. As I have highlighted, real questions remain about the process used to bring this statutory instrument forward. For those clear reasons, we will vote against the measures.

• 7 Jul 2026 · Summer Jobs · Hansard source

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  The whole point here is that businesses, the country and people need flexibility. The whole country runs on choice and flexibility, and if there are unnecessary restrictions that harm economic activity and prevent young people from entering the workforce when they want to, that is clearly not a good thing for our country. I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, because he makes a very good point about the Employment Rights Act, which we have made it very clear we disagree with. This is not just about the dismissal elements of the Employment Rights Act. The Act also makes British businesses have a fair and open recruitment process. Businesses must find the right candidate, on merit, from a proper field of candidates, and yet here we are today with the Government filling the highest office of the land from a shortlist of one! They will regulate the Saturday job to within an inch of its life but run their own leadership contest with all the rigour of a one-ticket raffle. They will hold a whole by-election to find work for one man, while imposing a permit form on every under-16 in the country, a Sunday working ban and a levy on the town in which they live. It is the same old Labour time and again: “Rules for thee, but not for me.” It is two years since the last election, and Labour’s policies are starting to bite. Job vacancies are down by almost 150,000. Thousands of job opportunities have gone, and the youth unemployment rate is up by 2.5%—that is 735,000 young people now out of work. Borrowing costs have hit record highs. Labour is spending more on welfare than defence, education and prisons combined. Our economy is shrinking. It does not have to be this way. We have a plan that respects young people and the fact that they want to work hard and succeed. We have a plan to back young people already in work and support those who want to find work and gain experience, especially through a summer job. Where Labour’s red tape harms employment, we will work with businesses to scrap it. That includes red tape on the employment of under-16s, such as the two-hour Sunday working limit. In sectors where Labour’s taxes threaten the largest impact, we will choose a different course: we will abolish business rates entirely for thousands of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses on our high streets, with a 100% relief benefiting one quarter of a million firms. We have ruled out the Government’s disastrous holiday tax on working families and treasured domestic tourist destinations. Unlike the Government, we understand that to back businesses and employers is to back their customers and the people they employ too. We cannot lose the aspiration of a generation because of the barrier raised by the failed choices of this Government. Young people want to work. They want to do their bit; they want to build their own futures. It is our job not to stand in their way but to support them. Our plan does just that. The Labour party has spent all summer worrying about one man’s job. We say worry about all the others, back British businesses, back our high streets and back the young people of this country, who ask for nothing more than the chance to work.