David Vance SubstackRead More
Angela Rayner may have gone but Parliament has just passed her trade union pandering “Employment Rights Bill”, fulfilling a Labour Party pledge from the 2024 general election manifesto. And it’s a job killer!
Let’s see if we can work out why!!
Firstly, day-one unfair dismissal protections will now apply to all workers, removing the previous two-year qualifying period that excluded 4.5 million employees. So instantly every employer is at risk from taking on a bad actor employees. This will cause great hesitation to employ in the private sector and further insulate incompetence in the State sector. Which is the aim of it.
Next, banning zero-hours contracts affecting 1 in 8 UK adults, particularly in hospitality and retail sectors, is another insane idea. This will mean fewer jobs as anybody with a brain can work out. Hospitality and Retail need flex, this erases it.
On a more Orwellian basis, employers must now take all reasonable steps to prevent “harassment”, including third-party incidents, amid rising workplace complaints up 20% since 2023. This is basically the spy in the pub scenario. If an employee hears a customer saying something that they find offensive, the employer is in trouble.
Flexible working requests become a default right from day one, with refusals needing justification. Again, this is damaging to employers in the private sector Then there is widened collective consultation requirements extend redundancy discussions to smaller workforce changes, affecting 2 million annual consultations.
All of this is going to crush jobs further and even the Institute of Directors survey of 1,200 business leaders found 62% expect negative growth impacts, citing hiring hesitancy. CIPD research warns unintended effects, like reduced opportunities for disabled workers due to higher dismissal risks.
Significantly, the bill aligns UK standards closer to EU norms, where day-one protections exist in 22 member states with implementation starting autumn 2026.
Since Labour came to power in July 2024, the UK jobs market has seen the number of payrolled employees falling by an estimated 164,000 between July 2024 and July 2025. This new Bill will further see the private sector shrink as the bloated State sector flourishes and trade union strength increase.
That’s the real difference that Labour delivers!
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