ANGELA Rayner is unhappy with Sir Keir Starmer for ripping up a key workers’ rights promise, one of her closest allies has revealed.
Justin Madders – the ex-employment minister who helped drive forward her Employment Rights Bill – said she is “not doing cartwheels” after the PM axed day-one protection from unfair dismissal.
He told LBC: “When we’ve all gone out and campaigned on something for a number of years, we’re committed to, we’ve promised we’d deliver it and we don’t, I think you can probably assume she isn’t doing cartwheels over this.”
The former Deputy PM has stayed silent since the PM binned the manifesto pledge after warnings the plan would damage business, cost jobs and make firms less willing to take a chance on new workers.
Allies say she is only likely to step in if the package is watered down again.
But more than a dozen Labour MPs have now gone public with their opposition to the U-turn, with some signalling they could fight it in the Commons.
Meanwhile, ministers insist the shift was “pragmatic” after days of talks with trade unions and business chiefs.
Under the new proposal, the qualifying period to bring an unfair dismissal claim will be set at six months – not from day one as Labour promised.
Other day-one rights such as parental leave and sick pay are still set to go ahead, coming into effect in April 2026.
Speaking about the move, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “This is yet another humiliating u-turn.
“Labour talk about stability but govern in chaos.
“No company can plan, invest or hire with this level of uncertainty hanging over them.”
