Moraes (PSE). – Mr President, a number of references were made to us, the British Labour MEPs. We clearly recognise the importance of this issue for our political group and for working people, particularly the issue of work/life balance and health and safety. That has been established and eloquently spoken about by a number of speakers. We do not want to see a long-hours culture; we want to see higher productivity. We want to see working people have the kind of work that allows them the leisure they deserve. We fully support the repeated statements by our government stating that the opt-out should not be abused and that the exercise of the opt-out must be truly voluntary to be legal under UK law.

We need clarification of the SIMAP and Jaeger judgments. As British Labour MEPs, we also believe that it is inappropriate for infringement proceedings to be taken against the UK Government. We have tabled Amendment 1, which deletes the recommendation that the UK Government should be subject to infringement proceedings. However, we believe in the principle of working time and want to see progress, particularly in the health sector.