Keir Starmer is braced for Angela Rayner to join a brewing Labour revolt over ditching a key plank of workers’ rights reforms today.
The PM faces fury for breaking another manifesto pledge after abruptly abandoning ‘day one’ rights to sue for unfair dismissal last night.
But the situation could become dramatically worse for Sir Keir if his former deputy – who championed the overhaul – publicly condemns him.
Close allies of Ms Rayner have made clear their anger, but she has yet to respond amid intense speculation at Westminster that she wants to make a return to the political frontline. The MP was forced to resign in September after admitting underpaying tens of thousands of pounds of stamp duty.
Sent out to defend the government on the airwaves this morning, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson admitted she had not spoken to Ms Rayner.
Keir Starmer is braced for Angela Rayner to join a brewing Labour revolt over ditching a key plank of workers’ rights reforms today
The situation could become dramatically worse for Sir Keir if his former deputy Ms Rayner (pictured) – who championed the overhaul – publicly condemns him
Ex-employment minister Justin Madders, a key ally of Ms Rayner who was sacked in Sir Keir’s reshuffle earlier this year, said the manifesto had been broken
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell was among those condemning the U-turn
The humiliating U-turn capped a dire week after widespread criticism of the Budget’s massive tax raid. Ministers have denied that package explicitly broke the manifesto, despite the IFS think-tank and other experts arguing it did.
Just days ago Downing Street insisted it would resist all attempts to water down the employment plans.
‘The Employment Rights Bill is good for workers, it’s good for businesses and it’s good for the economy, and we will overturn all attempts to scupper these plans including watering down Day One protection from unfair dismissal,’ the PM’s spokesman said on Monday.
The right had been a key Labour manifesto pledge and Left-wingers accused the government of a ‘sellout’.
But employers had warned the move would become a shirkers’ charter and destroy opportunities for young people trying to get their first job.
Ministers were also locked in a standoff with the House of Lords, where opposition peers were delaying the entire Employment Rights Bill over the issue.
A ‘compromise’ brokered at secret talks with business and union leaders will put the threshold at six months. Day one rights to sick pay will still go ahead.
Ms Phillipson said this morning that the legislation could have been delayed for a year without the concession.
‘There has been discussion on the point around unfair dismissal and the time period between businesses, the TUC and Government, and following that discussion there’s been agreement about the way forward, which is welcome,’ she said.
‘It means that the time limit will come down from two years to six months, and that runs alongside important day-one rights around sick pay and around parental leave. But the risk here was that if we didn’t make progress, those important rights wouldn’t come into force from April next year.’
She insisted it was not a broken manifesto promise, because Labour’s election document had committed to a consultation.
The manifesto said ‘we will consult fully with businesses, workers, and civil society on how to put our plans into practice before legislation is passed’ but went on: ‘This will include banning exploitative zero hours contracts; ending fire and rehire; and introducing basic rights from day one to parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal.’
Asked if it was a broken promise, Ms Phillipson said: ‘In the manifesto, what we said was that we would work with trade unions, with business, with civil society, in consulting on those protections that we’d be bringing forward.
‘So, there are both parts to that, within the manifesto, the important rights and the consultation.’
Speaking to broadcasters last night, Business Secretary Peter Kyle insisted the compromise had been found by ‘unions and the employers’ and ‘it’s not my job to stand in the way of that compromise’.
‘They’ve gone through the difficult process of working together to find a compromise… it’s my job to accept it,’ he said.
Mr Kyle also denied the concession was a breach of Labour’s manifesto.
But ex-employment minister Justin Madders, a key ally of Ms Rayner who was sacked in Sir Keir’s reshuffle earlier this year, rejected the claim.
‘It might be a compromise. It might even be necessary to get the Bill passed (as soon as possible). But it most definitely is a manifesto breach,’ the MP for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough said.
Unite boss Sharon Graham said the Bill had become ‘a shell of its former self’ while TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the ‘absolute priority’ was to get the legislation on to the statute books.
‘Following the Government’s announcement, it is now vital that peers respect Labour’s manifesto mandate and that this Bill secures royal assent as quickly as possible,’ Mr Nowak said.
Ms Graham said: ‘These constant row-backs will only damage workers’ confidence that the protections promised will be worth the wait. Labour needs to keep its promises.’
Business groups welcomed Thursday’s concession, saying the qualifying period of six months was ‘crucial for businesses’ confidence to hire and to support employment, at the same time as protecting workers’.
However, they warned that firms would ‘still have concerns’ about many of the powers within the Bill, including thresholds for industrial action, guaranteed hours contracts and seasonal and temporary workers.
‘We remain committed to working with Government and unions to dealing with this in the necessary secondary legislation to implement the Bill,’ the six industry groups involved in discussions with trade unions said.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch described the move as ‘another humiliating U-turn’ for Labour and said the legislation still contains ‘measures that will damage businesses and be terrible for economic growth’.
Sent out to defend the government on the airwaves this morning, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson admitted she had not spoken to Ms Rayner
Clapham and Brixton Hill’s Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy told the BBC: ‘Rolling back now is a huge problem because if we’re rolling back now, what other tweaks are we going to accept? What else are we going to get pushed into? We’re literally the Labour Party.
‘We are here to make policy for working people and this was one of the best opportunities we had to do that, one of the best in a generation.’
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said in a post on X: ‘Is this a sellout? Yes it certainly is. If it’s unfair to sack someone, it’s unfair whenever it occurs whether it’s day one or after 6 months. The principle is fairness.’
