It would appear the 'minister for common sense' is out-of-touch with the large majority of public opinion

The large majority of Tory voters support introducing a four-day working week, a new poll has revealed, in spite of Tory Minister Esther McVey previously claiming the concept was ‘socialist madness’. 

In a survey by Survation published in the Mirror, 67% of Conservative voters would opt to take a reduced four-day working week of 32 hours if they didn’t lose any pay. This rises by 2% among Labour voters, reflecting a high public majority in support of the scheme. 

However the ‘Minister for Common Sense’ Esther McVey, who has been in the news this week with widely unpopular workplace plans of her own, has previously launched an attack on the idea, referring to the four-day working week as “socialist madness”.

In an opinion piece for the Express, McVey said the scheme was the “last thing the country needs” and would mark a return to the “bad old days of union dominance”. 

Could it be another example of a Tory minister being deeply out of touch with public opinion? 

Campaigners have argued that the 9-5 five day working week is long overdue an update and that it is a win-win for workers and employers. The biggest trial of the four-day working week found that most of the UK companies that took part made the policy permanent after, and the majority reported it had an overall positive impact. 

Labour MP Peter Dowd has called on Labour to embrace a four-day week: “After Covid, British workers are fed up with working long hours and on low pay.

“A four-day week with no loss of pay has been shown to boost productivity and the wellbeing of workers and my party should embrace it.”

(Image Credit: Lyncconf Games / Creative Commons)

Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward

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