Labour has humane and popular plans to stand up for UK workers. Why dilute them? | Gaby Hinsliff
www.theguardian.com
Tue, 04 Mar 2025 08:00:37 +0200
Angela Rayners employment rights bill is precisely why many voted for this government.
Why be embarrassed about a defining policyOne step forward, two steps back.
Angela Rayners employment rights bill is back in the Commons this week, stuffed with ideas for improving everyday working life thats the big step forward for a government that was elected on a promise of radical change.
The weekend headlines, however, were all about what wont be changing after all.
The socalled right to switch off an early Rayner idea about legislating to prevent employees being pestered by outofhours calls and emails, which was already presumed dead due to not being in the bill was ritually killed off once again for the Sunday papers, with a briefing that it still wont be in the bill after fresh amendments are tabled on Tuesday.Presumably the idea was to reassure businesses fearful of extra regulatory burdens, on top of the looming April hike in employers national insurance.
But since its the tax rise theyre really worried about, in practice it offers minimal reassurance while generating hostile headlines about a supposed humiliation for Rayner despite Downing Streets best efforts to convey that the prime minister has never been closer to his deputy, a former care worker who is one of vanishingly few senior politicians to have done lowpaid, insecure work herself in the past.
The wary, almost apologetic way the government keeps approaching this admittedly complex bill suggests its still not entirely sure of its ground and that makes its opponents scent blood.Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
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