Rayner’s (un)Employment Rights Bill suffered a major defeat in the Lord last night. Peers voted in favour of Tory amendments to scrap day-one workers rights, 50% turnout for strike ballots and stringent protections for casual workers. The bill is set to go back to the Commons on 8 December…
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said:
“Labour’s Unemployment Bill has provoked widespread alarm among industry leaders and across the political divide. This latest defeat for the government emphasises just how damaging the Bill could be for businesses and for the jobs market. Labour should show some backbone, stand up to the trade union bully boys, back British businesses and compromise on this awful Bill.”
Reeves’ raid on businesses last year already sent the cost per worker up by £800. If the bill passes unamended, it will make it £154 more expensive a year to employ a single person. Thanks Rayner…
Tom Baldwin, author of Starmer’s hagiography, spoke to Times Radio:
Tom Baldwin: “I think he’d like to do something. He’s very dutiful and driven by service. That’s why he came into politics. I think that’s characterised his time as prime minister. He hasn’t always sought popularity or been good at being popular. But I think he has some of the necessary qualities that we actually do want in a prime minister. That resilience, that relentlessness, that ability to carry the weight and the job really does weigh very heavily on people and he carries that weight very, very well.”
Jo Coburn: “NATO Secretary-General?”
Tom Baldwin: “I think that’s something that he would be interested in. I think it probably requires Andy Burnham’s government to support him in that and these are some of the questions which Andy Burnham has to resolve quite quickly.”