Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on trades union recognition within freeports.

Freeports are not deregulatory and the government will ensure that the UK’s high standards with respect to workers’ rights will not be compromised. Therefore the UK’s trade union rights will apply to freeports.

The UK takes a voluntarist approach in relation to industrial relations. Collective bargaining is largely a matter for individual employers, their employees and their trade unions. It is therefore for individual employers to decide whether they wish to recognise a trade union for collective bargaining purposes.