If any more evidence was needed that the Liberal Democrats are anything but it was their votes which killed a Lords amendment lifting Rayner’s ‘Banter Ban’ in the Employment Rights Bill. On brand…
Toby Young’s amendment would have removed the requirement for pub staff to be legally liable for any speech that could be interpreted as “indirect harassment” in their establishments:
“(1D) Subsection (1A) does not apply to indirect harassment, so employers only have to protect their employees from non-sexual harassment by third parties that is directed at them.”
This maintains sexual harassment protections – the main strawman argument used against Young. 38 voted against the amendment last night – only one LibDem voted with the Tories. Seeing as the vote was 161 to 191 it was the LibDems what killed it. The anti-Banter Ban campaign goes on…
UPDATE: Shadow business secretary tells Guido: “When LibDems show you who they are, believe them. Last night they voted for every small business and pub to have to police your private conversations. They’re not liberal, and they don’t care for rural small enterprises.”
Lord Toby Young tells Guido:
“I tried to alert peers to the devastating effect the Banter Ban is likely to have on pubs. They’re already on their knees and the last thing they need is more red tape they’ll have to spend thousands of pounds to comply with. But it fell on deaf ears. I think the problem is, the Labour and Lib Dem peers never set foot in pubs.”
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”