Labour should pull it’s Employment Rights Bill before it becomes the Unemployment Act
Labour’s new law will mean a new starter can show up at work at 9am and file a costly claim against their boss by lunchtime, says Andrew Griffith
MPs debated amendments to Labour’s so-called Employment Rights Bill yesterday.
Employers are dreading this Bill. Written by and for the trade unions, it poses a dire threat to businesses and the wider economy, both of which are already struggling under the weight of Rachel Reeves’ tax hikes.
And it also spells disaster for the jobs market – and everyone who is either looking for a job or at any risk of losing one.
The amendments being debated – three of them Conservative and the other cross-party – were intended to mitigate the worst impacts of the Bill.
They would have prevented the introduction of day-one unfair dismissal rights that would allow a new starter to begin at 9am and file a costly claim against their boss by lunchtime.
They would have reversed Labour’s plans to scrap the 50 per cent minimum turnout required for strike ballots, which would allow militant activists to shut down vital services at will.
They would have ensured union members get a genuine choice over whether their subscriptions fund partisan political campaigns, instead of money being funnelled off without their approval.
And they would have introduced protections for seasonal workers, ensuring farms, hospitality and retail businesses do not suffer from restrictions on working hours.
But the government has refused to listen to the chorus of concern from industry and from across the political spectrum.
The Bill looks set to hit our economic output to the tune of £8.3bn, leading to at least 326,000 job losses,
Labour blocked the amendments and as a result the Bill looks set to hit our economic output to the tune of £8.3bn, leading to at least 326,000 job losses, new Conservative research shows.
It will also result in 108,000 years’ worth of lost output and an increase in welfare costs of over £500m, as newly jobless workers join the ever-growing queue for the dole.
This bill is an act of economic self-destruction.
Perhaps we should not be surprised that Labour have presented a Bill that will do so much harm to both employers and employees.
There is a dearth of business experience on their front bench; just one member of the Cabinet started their own business. And it shows.
Labour doesn’t understand business
This inability to understand business goes right to the heart of the government. At her first Budget, Rachel Reeves launched a £40bn tax raid. Since then, unemployment has risen every single month and 150,000 people have now lost their jobs. Young people especially face poor prospects, as employers lose the financial wriggle room to take risks on inexperienced staff. We are heading inexorably towards Generation Jobless – stuck on welfare paid for by the taxpayer.
This was all entirely predictable. And yet, at her doom-laden speech on Tuesday, Reeves confirmed what we all already knew: she’s plotting more of the same. She is preparing to hike taxes again – despite Labour promising not to put taxes up at the election, and then, when they did just that, saying it was a one-off and they wouldn’t be back for more.
The markets have seen which way the wind is blowing. When Reeves spoke, more than £20bn was wiped off the stock exchange. This a grim sign of things to come.
In this climate, businesses need all the help they can get. Instead, Labour are lining up to send costs up even more and hand control of the workplace over to the trade unions.
Businesses cannot afford this Bill. Jobseekers cannot afford it. Britain cannot afford it.
Labour must do the right thing and pull the Employment Rights Bill now – before it becomes the Unemployment Act.
Andrew Griffith is shadow business secretary