Ban on industrial action by prison officers

That this House notes it has been over 30 years since prison officers in the UK were banned from taking industrial action under section 127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; further notes that prison officers in Scotland have had the right to strike enshrined in law since 2015, yet there have been no strikes since then, only improved industrial relations; believes this draconian restriction, especially in the absence of an effective and impartial means of binding resolution of disputes in the course of collective bargaining, renders the UK in breach of its obligations under international laws that it has ratified and by which it is bound, including the European Social Charter and the International Labour Organisation's Convention 87 entitled Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise; further believes this lack of industrial muscle leaves prison officers unfairly and dangerously at the mercy of prison service management and without leverage to challenge Government policy with respect to pay, terms and conditions; expresses solidarity with the Professional Trades Union for Prison, Correctional and Secure Psychiatric Workers, known as the POA, which has campaigned tirelessly over three decades for the return of these basic industrial rights; welcomes the support for this campaign by 47 trade union general secretaries, the Trades Union Congress and the General Federation of Trade Unions; further welcomes the Government’s commitment to repealing anti-trade-union legislation introduced by previous administrations; and calls on the Government to repeal section 127 at the earliest opportunity.