§ 5. Mr. ArbuthnotTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many representations he has received in the last 12 months on picketing.
§ Mr. ForthSome half a dozen such representations on picketing have been received. I believe that one reason why that number is so small is the success of our legislation in bringing to an end the violent and intimidatory picketing which disfigured industrial relations in the 1970s. None of the representations has sought the legalisation of secondary picketing.
§ Mr. ArbuthnotAs my hon. Friend has had no representations about bringing back secondary picketing, one of the curses of the 1970s which ended in the winter of discontent, does he agree that it is appalling and horrifying that the Opposition want to re-legalise it?
§ Mr. ForthMy hon. Friend makes an important point which I am sure the House and people beyond it will want to note, and that is that, given the staggering success of the industrial relations legislation that the Government have introduced in a careful and planned way, particularly the 610 elimination of the evils of secondary picketing and its violence, the mere suggestion that Opposition Members might want secondary picketing to be brought back is so outrageous that I am sure that the electorate will take due note of that at the appropriate time.