HC Deb 05 August 1975 vol 897 cc432-3

Amendment proposed: No. 219, in page 163, line 45, at end insert:

'(1A) In that subsection, after the definition of "employee" insert— "employer" (subject to subsection (2) below) means, in relation to a worker who is not an employee, a person for whom one or more workers work, or have worked or normally work or seek to work;". '.—[Mr. Booth.]

Mr. Hayhoe

This is the last amendment we shall consider on Report. Because of the lateness of the hour we have decided to forgo the pleasures of a Third Reading debate, but that does not mean that we still have not many reservations about certain aspects of the Bill.

The Bill has been improved in Committee and on Report. More than 500 amendments have been made to it, about 50 of them moved by the Opposition or moved by the Government in response to suggestions we have made. Nevertheless, we still have reservations about the Bill.

May I say to the Minister of State, who has borne the burden of carrying the Bill through Committee, that we who served on the Committee are most grateful to him for his unfailing courtesy?

Mr. Booth

I very much appreciate what the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Mr. Hayhoe) said. I also appreciate the co-operation which he and his hon. Friends have shown during Report and also the co-operation of my hon. Friends. By way of response, I join him in his self-denying ordinance. I shall be a masochist and deny myself the pleasure of a Third Reading speech.

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. George Thomas)

I can never resist these good moments. I should like to be associated with the expressions of gratitude.

Amendment agreed to.

Bill read the Third time and passed.