Tories call for workers rights Bill to be thrown out as it returns to Commons

The Government has been told it should throw out its flagship workers rights package, as MPs are set to debate it once again.

The Conservatives said the Employment Rights Bill should be withdrawn, as they claimed it will have a damaging impact on the British economy.

The Bill is aimed at bolstering the rights of workers, including by extending a host of protections to them from the first day they start a new job.

It is currently caught in a stage of parliamentary scrutiny known as “ping-pong”, where the Lords and Commons argue over details in the Bill until agreement is reached.

As MPs are set to consider the Bill again on Wednesday, the Conservatives have called for it to be halted completely in its tracks, claiming it will lead to redundancies, increase welfare costs, and “cripple economic output”.

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said: “Labour’s unemployment Bill is set to cripple economic output and cost 326,000 people their jobs and livelihoods.

“Businesses are already reeling from the jobs tax and rising prices delivered by Rachel Reeves. This Bill threatens to worsen their pain by hiking costs and facilitating widespread strikes.

“Labour should listen to the overwhelming calls from business, stand up to the trade union bully boys and withdraw this Bill before it can wreak economic havoc. Otherwise, the impact on families will be disastrous.”

Ministers suffered a series of defeats to the Bill when it last appeared in the Lords, which included peers again rejecting proposals to give workers so-called “day one” rights protecting them from unfair dismissal.

The Lords also rejected a series of measures aimed at strengthening trades unions.

Peers pressed their demand to retain the 50% turnout threshold for an industrial action ballot of trade union members to be valid, and backed removing a provision in the Bill to automatically sign up new trade union members to pay a political levy.

A Government spokesperson said they did not “recognise” the figures used by the Conservatives in their assessment of the Bill.

The spokesperson said: “Our Employment Rights Bill will end the days of low pay and falling standards and drive economic growth by boosting the working conditions and living standards of over 15 million workers.

“Most employers recognise that happy workers are more productive and we will continue to work with them to deliver the growth that this country needs.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “A day after Reform said it wants to cut the minimum wage for young people, the Conservatives are calling to scrap the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation.

“Labour’s Employment Rights Bill will bring Britain’s outdated employment laws into the 21st century and turn the page on an economy held back by insecurity, low pay and poor productivity – giving working people the stability they deserve.

“The Tories are trying to block new parental leave rights, measures to tackle exploitative zero hours contracts, the ending of ‘fire and rehire’, new protections for working families and more.

“They’ve never been on the side of working people – they haven’t changed at all.”