Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday vowed to press ahead with the Employment Rights Bill he said had been championed by outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, promising the legislation would proceed “with the same substance and timetable as before.” The commitment came as trade unions renewed pressure for stronger worker protections while business groups and opposition parties warned the measures could increase costs and encourage industrial action.
Starmer made the statement at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party after paying tribute to Rayner following her resignation. Government sources said No 10 intends to seek reinstatement in the Commons of provisions the House of Lords removed, including a right to claim unfair dismissal from day one of employment.
The Employment Rights Bill, which the government has described as the “biggest single upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation,” proposes a range of changes that ministers say will end exploitative practices such as fire-and-rehire and strengthen protections for pregnant women and new mothers. Business groups and Conservative critics say the measures could cost firms up to £5 billion a year, weigh on growth and make strikes more likely.
A Downing Street spokesman said the government would “continue to engage with businesses as the Bill progresses through Parliament, and that includes overturning the amendments that were passed in the Lords.” Labour ministers told delegates at the TUC congress in Brighton that the detail of the bill remained to be worked out but insisted the party remained committed to delivering improvements for workers.
Alison McGovern, a minister in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, told a fringe meeting at the congress that "Labour MPs have voted three times for [the Bill]. We are committed to it." Ellie Reeves, recently removed as party chair, said her experience as a trade union lawyer informed her view that the bill would make a practical difference by “ending exploitative zero-hours contracts, giving pregnant women and new mothers strengthened rights and protections, cracking down on dodgy fire and rehire practices, rights at work from day one.”
Union leaders at the conference, however, warned the legislation had already been watered down. Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, accused ministers of diluting promised bans on fire-and-rehire and zero-hours contracts and warned that continued concessions would leave the bill “not worth the paper that it’s written on.” She said Unite members could vote to disaffiliate from Labour, a move the party estimates would cost it more than £1 million a year in funding.
Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, which represents 47 affiliated unions, gave a stark appraisal of Labour’s first year in office and urged ministers to deliver on manifesto commitments. “For far too many people, change still feels like a slogan, not a lived reality,” Nowak told delegates. He said the TUC’s message to government was simple: “deliver the manifesto which won you a huge majority.”
The bill has already faced opposition in the House of Lords, where peers passed amendments removing certain government proposals. Government ministers have indicated they will seek to overturn those changes when the legislation returns to the Commons, a move that will require careful parliamentary management and could prompt further debate over the scope and timing of new rights.
Business groups and Conservative politicians have used the Lords defeats to argue for scaling back the bill, citing economic risks and the potential for increased strike activity. Labour ministers say they will continue discussions with employers as the bill moves through the parliamentary stages but have framed the legislation as a fulfilment of manifesto promises to improve conditions for working people.
The next formal step is the bill’s return to the Commons, where ministers have pledged to restore key provisions removed in the Lords. Parliamentary timetable and the detailed content of any compromises remain subject to negotiation as the government seeks to balance party commitments, union expectations and business concerns.