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Employment Bill [HL]

My Lords, I do not think that Clause 17 has anything to do with whatever relationship there may have been between the Labour Party and the trade unions. That is not the issue. If a golf club is not the best example for the noble Lord, perhaps the Confederation of British Industry, the National Trust or the RSPB, which has millions of members as I understand it, are better examples. We are seeking—I know that we will rightly discuss this major point at length in Committee—to put trade unions in the same position as those other organisations, which is all that I shall say on this. I have a winding-up section of my speech, but noble Lords will be delighted to hear that I do not intend to read it all.