My Lords, it is always possible to talk about individual examples. In a minute, I will explain some other examples in relation to the amendments that have been tabled. Asking that 50% of eligible members take part in a ballot regarding action which is going to be hugely disruptive to people in all walks of life seems to me to be fair and democratic.
The threshold does not ban strike action. I think that that is accepted. It may stop some strikes—I think I have to accept that—but only those which have
not been able to secure a sufficiently strong mandate. It is about restoring a level of democratic accountability to industrial action and it will rebalance the interests of all working people, both union members exercising their right to strike and non-striking members who want to go to work and carry on their normal lives.
We have before us a number of amendments to lower the 40% threshold, and to reduce the requirement for a simple majority of yes votes. Reducing the thresholds would fail to achieve our objective. It would mean that the thresholds have no practical effect, and would not ensure that strike action could only go ahead as the result of a clear, positive decision by union members.
Let me illustrate the point. If the alternative threshold of 25% proposed in Amendment 9 were applied, then only 250 in a ballot of 1,000 need to vote yes in ballots for important public services. This adds nothing to Clause 2, which requires a minimum turnout of 50%, and a simple majority of those who vote to support strike action.
Lowering the threshold even further to 20%, as suggested by Amendment 8, would again make the important public services threshold meaningless. Finally, Amendment 2 would replace the requirement to achieve a simple majority in all ballots with a requirement that only 35% of those voting need to support strike action. If this applies to a ballot of 1,000 where 600 have cast a vote, then only 210 union members would need to vote yes.
I do not believe that members of the public would feel that this restores a level of democratic legitimacy to industrial action ballots. They would gain no comfort in knowing that they cannot get to work or get their children to school because less than a quarter of union members have supported this outcome.
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In response to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Collins of Highbury, about the 40% threshold, in addition to its being in the manifesto, the Government set the threshold at 40% on the recommendation of the CBI, made in 2010, on the basis that this mirrors the rules for statutory union recognition. The CBI continues to support this. Over the summer, we consulted on which services within the named sectors should be subject to the threshold and on how the threshold should operate in practice. We analysed over 200 responses and considered in detail the available evidence of the impact of strike action across all sectors.
We published the Government’s response to the consultation on 21 January and specified precisely those services where we felt there was compelling evidence of the potential impact of strike action on the public. The skeleton regulations included in the Government’s response focus on and limit the application of the threshold to those services where strike action could have the most adverse and significant consequences. To give a few examples, these include firefighters; doctors providing emergency, urgent and critical healthcare; schoolteachers in state-funded institutions; tube and bus drivers; and border officers operating security checks for the exit and entry of people and goods.
To conclude, the 40% threshold will mean that strikes can take place only if they have a strong mandate. It is about ensuring that industrial action has democratic accountability, and it will take proper account of all working people—both union members exercising their right to strike and non-striking workers who want to go to work and carry on with their daily lives. I hope that noble Lords will accept that Clause 3 should stand part of the Bill and I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.