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Lords amendment: No. 14, after clause 17, to insert the following new clause—Sporting events and activities on Sundays—
. The entertainments and amusements to which the Sunday Observance Act 1780 applies shall not include any sporting event or activity.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.—[Mr. Norris.]
§ Madam Deputy SpeakerWith this, it will be convenient to take Lords amendment No. 29.
§ Mr. Nigel GriffithsI do not want to repeat at length the arguments that were made in the other place but, although there are welcome aspects of the clause and the amendments, anxiety has been expressed that people doing the jobs not in the betting firing line will still not have the workers' protection that was promised when the Government repealed the Shops Act 1950. People doing administrative jobs—clerks who work with bookies, catering workers, cloakroom attendants and car park attendants—can all now be required to work on Sundays, but without the protection afforded by the Sunday Trading Act 1994.
If the Sunday Trading Act had not made concessions in relation to workers who did not wish to work on Sundays, it would not have been passed by the House or the other place. Ministers promised safeguards to workers who, for conscientious family or other reasons, did not wish to be compelled to work on Sundays. There has been a breach of faith as those workers are being compelled to work on Sundays, and anxiety about that is reflected on the Opposition Benches.
§ Question put and agreed to.