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Employment Bill [HL]

With leave, I shall not move any of the three amendments at issue. I have discussed the matter with my noble friend Lady Turner, as well as with my noble friend the Leader of the House. I am most grateful to her for her time, which turned out to be a waste of her time, for which I am deeply sorry. I was out of London on 20 October when my noble friend Lady Turner offered these amendments and was advised that they were outside the scope of the Bill. She, as we discussed, said that we wanted them to be printed and tabled for various reasons, such as giving notice of very serious issues, as my noble friend the Leader of the House has agreed. She was told by a Clerk on that occasion that even if she insisted they could not be printed or tabled. I learnt of this on returning to London and sent an e-mail to the chief Clerk, who took a slightly different view and accepted that they should be tabled. He took the view that the House must decide because paragraph 7.52 of the Companion states that, "““the admissibility of an amendment can ultimately be decided only by the House itself, there being no authority that can in advance rule an amendment out of order””." As a matter of principle, we therefore asked for these amendments to be printed. I am most grateful to the Leader of the House for doing what the Companion says that she should do. I shall, of course, follow and not waste any more time, except to say that I am very happy not to move these amendments.