asked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will make a statement on the discussions he has held with the TUC relating to changes in the law of picketing.
I met the TUC on 31st July to discuss a number of matters relating to the Employment Protection Bill. It expressed regret that it had not been possible to find a suitable statutory provision dealing with the stopping of vehicles. I told it, as I had explained to the House in the debate on the Report stage of the Employment Protection Bill on 30th July—(Hansard Col. 1896)—that there were a number of major difficulties in the way of a generally acceptable solution to this problem, and that while I would continue to try to find one, I could make no commitment to bring a clause for inclusion in the later stages of the Bill.