Politics LIVE: Businesses slam Angela Rayner’s workers rights revolution which will be ‘bad for jobs’ and ‘inject fear’
Business leaders said they are “outraged” over Labour’s landmark employment reforms.
The new law, which ministers will unveil later today will give nine million workers the right to launch unfair dismissal claims from their first day. Flexible working, including working from home, will also be made the “default for all” where possible.
However, there are fears that while the Bill has “good intentions” it could tie small firms up in red tape, causing bosses to “freeze employment.”
National chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Martin McTague: “With all the good intentions, this [Bill] will inject fear into that employment relationship. It makes most small businesses very nervous.”
Policy chair at the FSB Tina McKenzie called the bill: “A rushed job, clumsy, chaotic and poorly planned…Beyond warm words, it lacks any real pro-growth element and will increase economic inactivity, seriously jeopardising the Government’s own 80 per cent employment target.”
However, Labour MPs and trade unions hailed the reforms, with TUC chair Paul Nowak saying the Government can use its overhaul of workers’ rights to win over disaffected Tory and Reform voters
He said: “Labour’s workers’ rights plans are hugely popular across the political spectrum – including with Tory and Reform voters. After 14 years of stagnating living standards, people desperately want secure jobs they can build a decent life on. The government’s plan to ‘make work pay’ – delivered in full – would improve incomes and the quality of work across Britain.
“It’s time to turn the page on the Tories’ low-rights, low-pay economy that has allowed good employers to be undercut by the bad. It’s time to make work pay again.”
Chief executive of UKHospitality Kate Nicholls said she was “pleased” that Labour recognised “the importance of flexibility” however warned the Government to “take its time [to] avoid unintended consequences.”
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Liberal Democrat councillor suspended by party over ‘pro-Hamas’ social media post
Leena Sarah Farhat, a member of Llanfairfechan town council in Conwy county, was also her party’s candidate in Ynys Môn at the general election.
The message which Farhat shared was posted from a different social media account on the anniversary of the attack on October 7, which Hamas named Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
It read: “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is one of the most important, valiant, ground-shaking anti-colonial uprisings of our time. At the crack of dawn they flew over & burst through the colonial wall, outsmarting and striking a lightning rod blow to the tyrant Goliath. Long live the resistance.”
She told BBC Wales she had made a mistake in reposting the message on X, formerly known as Twitter. The party said the original message was “deeply offensive and unacceptable”.
Reynolds rejects suggestion pensioners would have to ‘hide behind the sofa’ under Labour
The Business Secretary told Sky News: “This is a Government that is going to make everybody better off. Specifically for pensioners, we already have the commitment to the triple lock, that’s a guarantee that pensioners will be better off this year, next year, the year after that.
“That is a significant pledge from this new Government, so people should be reassured from commitments like that.
“Yes, it is a challenging situation, but we are serious on delivering on our objectives, which is an economy that works better for everyone, better growth, better investment and to make sure everyone benefits from that.”