Ian Murray MP
By Ian Murray  Labour Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South, Shadow Minister, Business Innovation & Skills.
The Tory-led Government’s Statutory Instrument (SI) to cut the consultation period for collective redundancy from 90 to 45 days will be debated in a Delegated Legislation Committee this coming Monday 18th March at 4.30pm in Committee Room 9 in the House Of Commons.  I will be responding on behalf of the Shadow Business Team.
 The Government have failed to listen to the calls from us that this major change needs to be debated and voted on the floor of the House. Yet again, they are changing peoples’ rights at work by the back door.
Ministers have totally failed to make a case for cutting this in half. Indeed, there are numerous cases where 90 days have saved a company or where it has been essential for catering for the needs of the workforce.
I have urged my MP colleagues to come along on Monday. Any MP can speak against the legislation, but unfortunately are unable to vote unless they are on the Committee. The SI then moves to the floor of the House to be voted on without debate so this is the only chance to lay out our opposition to the change.
I have received a number of useful cases studies and research from trade union colleagues to show that the Government should not being taking this forward so thank you for your help. It is clear the Government are only doing so because they are wedded to the old orthodoxies which don’t serve the interests of employees, employers or the economy.
You may be interested in recent article I wrote for Unions 21 ‘ForeFront’ magazine detailing why this is the wrong move. You can read it here by clicking the link – http://tinyurl.com/bqsepdz
Please feel free to forward this email on to your MP. Finally, please do get in touch if you have any further information you would like to share or anything you would like to discuss – ian.murray.mp@parliament.uk
