Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd, and thank you for the chance to contribute in this, the latest round in this Government’s determination, and the determination of other Members of this Assembly, to resist the unwarranted intrusion of the UK Government into devolved responsibilities and to prevent their determination to foist their views of industrial relations onto this Assembly and onto the social partnership model, which has been so carefully crafted here in the devolution era.

The evidence from social partners on this group of amendments is absolutely clear: that putting limitation on check-off is unnecessary, that the cost to the public purse is negligible and that it unjustifiably singles out trade union membership subscriptions from other forms of payroll deductions. As you’ve heard from Dawn Bowden and others, apparently there is no difficulty for the Conservative Party in using this form of paying for sport club membership, from making donations to charity, for taking advantage of cycle-to-work schemes or for making subscriptions to a credit union. Uniquely, apparently, trade union membership is to be singled out as not to be available for this form of activity.

Llywydd, I first joined a trade union when I was 17 years old, so it’s going to be nearly 50 years before too long. In that time, I have paid trade union subscriptions in cash; I have written a cheque; I have taken advantage of payroll deductions, and, these days, I pay by direct debit. There is no inhibition whatsoever on trade union members in taking other forms of making their subscriptions. What this would do would be to place limits on their ability to use payroll deduction and for no good reason at all. Employers are not compelled to make payroll deduction available, neither are they compelled to provide it at no cost, and neither are trade unionists compelled to pay their subscriptions by this method. The amendment sets out to solve a problem that simply doesn’t exist.

This afternoon, Llywydd, I will rely regularly on the report that this Assembly’s Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee provided at the end of Stage 1—a report supported by seven of the eight members of that committee and which was the result of very careful evidence-taking that the committee brought together to scrutinise the Government’s proposal. This is what the committee said in relation to the deduction of trade union subscriptions:

‘we believe that the provisions in the 2016 Act’— the UK Act—

‘which seek to restrict check-off services are unnecessary and unwarranted. They also single out trade union subscriptions from other payments made by employers on behalf of employees. We see no valid reason to apply the provisions to devolved Welsh authorities in Wales. By destabilising the social partnership, the provisions may have an adverse impact on the effective delivery of public services in Wales.’

Members should reject this proposal.