Coalition defiant after Lords defeat
Thursday 21 March 2013
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EmailBusiness Minister Michael Fallon said today that the government will still go ahead with its controversial "shares for rights" scheme after the Lords threw it out on Wednesday night.
The plan, announced last year by George Osborne, would allow workers to give up some of their employment rights for as little as £2,000 of shares.
A rebellion by senior Tory peers, including former chancellor Lord Lawson, helped defeat the proposals.
Former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Forsyth of Drumlean said the measure was "ill-thought-through, confused and muddled."
But Mr Fallon told MPs today: "This house agreed before Christmas to make available this additional right."
TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "This humiliating defeat reflects the near universal thumbs-down it has received from business and unions."
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