Angela Rayner appeared to fight back tears as she opened the Labour conference for the first time as Deputy Prime Minister.
The Cabinet Minister appeared emotional as party delegates gathered in Liverpool gave her a massive applause as she took the stage. Ms Rayner told those in the hall it was a “great honour of my life to stand here today as your Deputy PM” and the first conference of a Labour government in 15 years.
During her keynote speech, Ms Rayner promised laws scrapping the Tories anti-strike laws and bolstering workers’ rights will be introduced next month. The Deputy PM recieved a massive round of applause as she laid out Labour’s plans to overhaul workplace practices with the “historic legislation”.
During the election campaign, Keir Starmer and Ms Rayner vowed to introduce a New Deal for Working People within 100 days of taking office.
Speaking at the party’s conference in Liverpool, the Deputy PM said: “When I took on this job I promised the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation – nothing less than a New Deal for working people.
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“I can confirm today the Employment Rights Bill will be tabled in Parliament next month. They said we couldn’t do it, some tried to stop it in its tracks. But after years in opposition we are on the verge of historic legislation to make work more secure, make it more family friendly.”
She said it will ensure trade unions are strengthened by “repealing the Tories anti-worker laws” while bolstering sick pay provisions and providing a genuine living way. It will also end “exploitative” zero hours contracts and controversial fire and rehire tactics which allow bosses to sack staff and re-employ them on worse conditions.
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Ms Rayner also used her speech to take a swipe at the Tories’ leadership election contest, saying: “Next week they [the Tories] will gather in the wreckage of their defeat. Reduced to 10-minute auditions for wannabee leaders, beating each other to different shades of blue. On a show that no-one is watching.”
Referring to leadership hopeful spat with actor David Tennant, she went on: “Perhaps that’s why Kemi launched her leadership campaign with an attack on Doctor Who. It was bad enough when they wanted to deal with Farage. Now she’s doing side deals with the Daleks. But conference, at least after three months as shadow housing secretary, she finally expressed concern about a tenant. It’s just a pity it was David Tennant.”