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Labour’s powerful regional leaders, including Andy Burnham, Sadiq Khan, Tracy Brabin, Dan Norris, Oliver Coppard, Nik Johnson and Steve Rotheram, said the blueprint was critical for ordinary Brits
Labour metro mayors have urged Keir Starmer to ignore “voices of doom” and keep plans for a workers’ rights shake-up at the top of the party’s agenda.
Keir Starmer has said the New Deal for Working People will be brought forward in the first 100 days of a Labour government. It will give all workers employment rights from their first day in a job and ban zero hours contracts. But there has been speculation that the package of reforms, first unveiled in 2021, could be watered down.
In a joint article for the Mirror, Labour’s powerful regional leaders – Andy Burnham, Sadiq Khan, Tracy Brabin, Dan Norris, Oliver Coppard, Nik Johnson and Steve Rotheram – said the blueprint was critical for the lives of ordinary Brits – and the party’s election chances. “These policies are not just bold and transformational – they’re also voters’ priorities,” they said. “At a time when the cost of living crisis remains the top concern, this plan to make pay has got to stay at the top of Labour’s agenda.”
Comparing critics of the plan to those who opposed the National Minimum Wage 25 years ago, the mayors said: “It’s no surprise that the same voices of doom are back singing the same old tune, making out that fair pay and decent rights at work are a pathway to disaster. They were wrong then, and they’re wrong now. Keir Starmer couldn’t be clearer that this is going to happen.”
Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, who is spearheading the reforms, gave a “cast iron commitment” in September to push through an Employment Rights Bill and repeal anti-strike laws in the first 100 days of a Labour government. But business chiefs are reportedly lobbying Labour to soften the proposals. Confederation of British Industry President Rupert Soames, a former Serco boss, told the FT earlier this year that the group was offering “private feedback” on the plans.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said this week that Labour wanted to make sure “all of our policies work and that means they’ve got to work for businesses and working people as well”. Labour peer Peter Mandelson sparked a backlash from colleagues for saying last month that the reforms must not be introduced too fast.
He wrote in the Sunday Times: “Businesses and investors will have eyes on the total UK business environment, including regulation. This includes labour market and trade union law. There is a clear case for reform but the case needs to be tested, priorities established and the complexities addressed. This must not be rushed but it must be done in consultation with business.”
Justin Madders, the Shadow Minister for Employment Rights, hit back, saying the case for reform is “as strong as it has ever been”. Mr Starmer also said the deal would be implemented in full, when grilled by the Mirror at last month’s local elections launch.
It comes as a recent poll found more than 4 in 5 (82%) managers support Labour’s workers’ rights blueprint, with 3 in 4 (74%) backing a ban on zero hours contracts. The survey by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) also found 3 in 4 (74%) said the publication of ethnicity and disability pay gaps was important.
