Starmer facing Labour backlash over ‘sellout’ U-turn on employment rights bill – UK politics live | Politics

Badenoch says ‘disgraceful U-turn’ on workers’ rights bill shows Labor is creating too much ‘uncertainty’ for business

Kemi BadenochThe Conservative leader has issued ‘I told you so’ comments about Labour’s “disgraceful U-turn” on the Employment Rights Bill. He said:

On Monday, I told a conference of Britain’s biggest businesses that the Labor Party’s employment rights policy from day one would destroy jobs and take our country backwards. Four days later, and after their disastrous budget, Starmer and Reeves finally woke up to how bad these policies really were.
This is another humiliating U-turn. Workers talk about stability but rule in anarchy. No company can plan, invest or hire with this level of uncertainty.

Badenoch told the CBI on Monday, referring to the day’s protection plan against unfair dismissal.

Under this Bill, a new employee can turn up at nine in the morning and file a claim before an employment tribunal before they’ve even found out where the toilets are!

Business Secretary Peter Kyle claims workers’ rights bill’s U-turn does not breach Labour’s manifesto

Good morning. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves yesterday denied Labor had broken a manifesto promise with its tax-hike budget. Given that Reeves was expected to freeze the income tax cap for a few weeks, this was an old argument that was nowhere new. Then, yesterday afternoon, the government opened the debate on yet another broken manifesto with the surprise announcement of a U-turn on the Employment Rights Bill.

Here’s the story of our night jessica elgot And Richard Partington.

It is not hard to understand why the minister agreed to the concession. The protection against unfair dismissal was very unpopular with employers on the first day, who said it would prevent companies from hiring new employees. With rising unemployment and the hospitality sector in particular concerned about the implications of some of the measures in the budget, this is a concession that would significantly ease business concerns about the legislation. And most unions seem willing to accept this drop as the price of getting the bill into law quickly.

But it still came as a surprise. On Monday Number 10 was telling journalists, “We will overturn all attempts to gut (the Employment Rights Bill plans), including reducing the first day’s protection against unfair dismissal”. Governments regularly make concessions when legislation is moving through the House of Lords, but this bill is at the “ping-pong” stage and MPs have already twice overturned Lords amendments blocking the first day’s protection from unfair dismissal. This is a Labor manifesto commitment; As per tradition, the Lords were forced to retreat. But there is evidence that it is becoming increasingly aggressive (on other bills too), and ministers decided that it would be better to seek compromise and quick passage requiring royal assent than a protracted fight.

The news has already sparked Labor protests. But we may have to wait for the most significant labor response – which will come angela rainerFormer Deputy PM. Rayner was overseeing the bill until she resigned and in a speech earlier this month, she staunchly defended Day One’s protections from unfair dismissal. He said:

The previous Conservative government shamefully doubled the eligibility period against unfair dismissal to two years and took away workers’ protections at the stroke of a pen, and now they are at it again. Government members believe that employees deserve fairness, respect and honor at work, and they are entitled to this from their first day on the job. Opposition Members say that these rights against unfair dismissal will slow down recruitment, so let me clarify that employers can still have probation periods for their new employees; They will not be able to fire them unfairly at will without any good reason.

Rainer is still seen as a strong candidate to replace Starmer before the next election, and she will have to decide whether she wants to use the issue to advance her potential leadership ambitions. As our story says, she plans to seek opinion from MPs before speaking publicly about her reaction to the U-turn.

Here are some of the key developments in this story this morning.

We also promised in the manifesto that we will bring people together, this will not be a law, this will not be a law that pits one party against the other…
The manifesto has been committed to rights from day one. We have been committed to rights from day one. The manifesto has committed us to finding a compromise… and we are working on it.

• Sharon Graham, leader of Unite, one of Britain’s two largest unions and Labour’s major donor, condemned the U-turn. He said:

The Employment Rights Bill is a shell of its former form.

With no ban on fire and reassignment and zero-hour contracts, the bill is already unrecognizable.

These continued roadblocks will only harm workers’ confidence that the promised protections will be worth the wait. Labor needs to keep its promises.

She has been hinting for months that her union might split from Labor (which would also lead to it withdrawing financial support), and this U-turn should make that slightly more likely.

• Some Labor MPs have condemned the U-turn, with one calling it a “sellout”. this is from andy macdonaldA former shadow cabinet minister.

We can all read the manifesto ourselves and it says we will deliver rights from day one and this also includes unfair dismissal.
We are not doing that now, so we are doing something that is completely inconsistent with the manifesto.

and this is from Justin MaddersJoe was Minister for Employment Rights until he was dismissed in a short reshuffle following Rayner’s resignation.

This could be a compromise
It may also be necessary to pass the bill as soon as possible
But this is definitely a violation of the manifesto

and this is from John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor when Jeremy Corbyn was Labor leader.

Is this a sell-off? Yes it definitely is. If it’s unfair to fire someone, it’s unfair whenever it happens, whether it’s the first day or 6 months later. The principle is fairness.

• Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has rejected claims it is a U-turn. She was in the interview rounds this morning, and, in an interview with BBC Breakfast, when told it was a U-turn, she replied:

I don’t accept that characterization, I’m afraid. The Employment Rights Bill represents the biggest advance in workers’ rights in a generation.

We’ll have more on this as the day progresses.

There’s not much on the agenda, but we’ve got a Number 10 lobby briefing at 11.30am.

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