Angela Rayner stokes battle with House of Lords over Labour staff’ rights legal guidelines: Ex-deputy PM calls for Parliament ‘sits by way of the evening’ to cease ‘hereditary friends’ blocking Bill
Angela Rayner has demanded Parliament works ‘through the night’ to ensure Labour‘s workers’ rights laws are passed.
The former deputy prime minister lashed out at hereditary peers in the House of Lords for ‘blocking’ the Government’s flagship legislation.
The Employment Rights Bill is caught up in a battle between the House of Commons and Lords, where ministers have suffered a series of defeats.
In a bid to get the Bill passed before Parliament shuts down for Christmas later this week, ministers have made a series of concessions.
The Government has ditched a day-one right to protections against unfair dismissal and replaced it with a six-month qualifying period.
It has also moved to scrap compensation caps for unfair dismissal, which are currently the lower of 52 weeks’ pay or £118,223.
MPs voted by 311 to 96, a majority of 215, in support of the Government’s plan to remove the cap on Monday.
The Bill will now return to the Lords on Tuesday, where peers will again be asked to support the final draft of the legislation.
Angela Rayner has demanded Parliament works ‘through the night’ to ensure Labour’s workers’ rights laws are passed
The former deputy prime minister lashed out at hereditary peers in the House of Lords for ‘blocking’ the Government’s flagship legislation
Speaking in the Commons on Monday evening, Ms Rayner hit out at the Lords for delaying the passage of the Bill she fronted before her resignation from Government.
She said: ‘What message does this send to the British public, when 33 hereditary peers have tried to defeat the Government by 24 votes on a manifesto promise on sick pay, for example, which will miss the deadline for April for some of the lowest earners from some of the wealthiest?
‘Shouldn’t we get on, go through the night if we have to, and get this Bill passed?’
Business minister Kate Dearden said: ‘We have been in ping pong for far too long, and further delay is not in anyone’s best interest.’
She added the removal of the cap could make it ‘easier for tribunals to reach a judgment more quickly, and decreasing the burdens on the system’.
Senior Tory MP Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, criticised the removal of the compensation cap.
He said: ‘Why would any sane government scrap the cap entirely? Indeed, this Government didn’t for 13-and-a-half months of the 14 months that we’ve (been) debating this Bill.
‘It wasn’t in the manifesto, it wasn’t in the Bill, it wasn’t in the impact assessment, it wasn’t considered by the regulatory policy committee, and it’s never been discussed in this House until they threw it in at the last moment.’
Business groups including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) had earlier said ‘now is the time for Parliament to pass the Bill’.
A joint letter to Business Secretary Peter Kyle was signed by the Confederation of British Industry, the British Chamber of Commerce, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and Small Business Britain.
They said: ‘We believe that the best way forward is to keep working with the Government and trade unions to find balanced solutions through secondary legislation.
‘To avoid losing the six months qualifying period, we therefore believe that now is the time for Parliament to pass the Bill.’
Mr Kyle said: ‘All parties – business, trade unions, Government and Parliament – have made difficult but necessary compromises to bring this Bill forward.
‘In that same spirit of compromise, during the remaining stages of this Bill I urge everyone to recognise that the elected representatives of business, trade unions and the people are committed to passing this Bill without further delay.’
