The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson also said: “We are absolutely backing the Employment Rights Bill.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged that there will be ‘no rowing back’ on the Employment Rights Bill, despite pressure from some businesses to water it down.
After Angela Rayner’s resignation from government, some union bosses had expressed fears that the bill could be watered down, however the Prime Minister has reiterated his support for the Employment Rights Bill which will amount to the biggest uplift to workers’ rights in a generation.
Under the bill, workers will get protection against unfair dismissal and sick pay from day one, and a right to flexible working and parental leave. Those on zero-hours contracts will be offered guaranteed hours, and trade unions will gain a host of new rights to organise and strike. The bill also seeks to restrict “fire and rehire” practices by making it an automatically unfair dismissal in most cases to sack an employee and offer them re-engagement on worse terms.
Despite opposition peers adding amendments to the bill to water it down, the Prime Minister told a gathering of the Parliamentary Labour Party yesterday that there would be no rowing back on the Employment Rights Bill, with the government reported to be committed to overturning the amendemnets.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesperson also said: “We are absolutely backing the Employment Rights Bill.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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