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Employment Bill [HL]

I think the Minister will find that this is a warm-up to further debates we will have today, on another day in Committee and on Report so that we can finally resolve this question. In their paper the Government put forward two options: option A, which is the Bill, and option B, which is, in effect, what is proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Lester of Herne Hill. There is also option C, which was put forward by my noble friend Lord Campbell, to strike out the clause on the basis that there is no obligation to follow the decision of the European Court of Human Rights because the judgment is not binding. We want to hear the Minister’s response to my noble friend’s amendment. We will then want to listen to what the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has to say about his amendment in which he puts forward what is, in effect, option B. Obviously at a later stage the House will have to make a decision about the correct approach.