‘The Employment Rights Bill shows just what Labour can do in power – now we must fight to defend it’

Everybody who works for a living deserves to earn a decent living.

But for many in my constituency of Knowsley – and across the country – work does not pay. Making ends has got harder not easier.

Under the Tories low-paid and insecure work rocketed with rogue bosses given virtual free-rein to mistreat staff. That’s why Labour’s Employment Rights Bill is so important.

It is the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation that will boost living standards and give people vital protections at work.

I’m so proud to be on the Public Bill Committee for this crucial legislation. This Bill shows exactly what Labour in power is all about.

Policies like banning fire and rehire, ending exploitative zero hours contracts, giving people access to sick pay from day one and protecting workers from unfair dismissal will improve millions of working lives.

For me this is personal. It is what I got into politics for.

Ending the race to the bottom

It was my Dad’s secure, well paid unionised job on the production line at Ford’s Halewood that gave me a better life than my Mum and Dad. It lifted us out of poverty and provided us with enough money for a decent home and enough for us to live a life of dignity on.

Everyone should have that and it is I why I will fight for work where people can flourish and thrive. Jobs to take pride in, that can provide a good life.

Ending the Tories’ race to the bottom is good for working people and it is good for business too.

By establishing a level playing field on employment rights we can stop decent employers from being undercut by the bad. Don’t just take my word for it.

Ferry and shipping company DFDS has given evidence to my committee. They couldn’t have been clearer in calling for an end to fire and rehire to stop scandals like P&O where 800 staff were sacked illegally over Zoom.

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Decent companies play by the rules. So should everyone else.

And when, in one of the Bill committees’ evidence sessions I asked a representative from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) about the benefits of the Bill she couldn’t have been any clearer either.

When working people are treated well they are happier, healthier and more productive. Polling carried out by the CMI showed that 80% of their members support strengthening rights at work.

Driving up employment standards and making work pay is vital – especially at a time when trust in politics is low.

Making work pay

But there is still a long way to go. We have begun our line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill – to make sure the Bill works in our workplaces, and will let our unions get on with organising to raise pay and improve conditions.

The Tories have already shown their true colours by trying to water down and wreck this legislation.

This shouldn’t come as any surprise. In October Kemi Badenoch complained about maternity pay and the minimum wage being too excessive and burdensome.

It shows how out of touch she and her party are. And it shows that the Conservatives are not on the side of working people.

We can’t take our eyes off the ball. The Employment Rights Bill and the rest of Labour’s Plan to Make Work Pay are a historic opportunity to make the world of work better for generations to come.

I won’t rest until it is firmly on the statute books.

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