This week Parliament took another stride towards delivering the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation. The Employment Rights Bill passed through to its next stage – a victory for the millions of people who’ve been left for too long with insecurity, poor pay and a system stacked against them.
This Bill is not tinkering around the edges. It rips up the old, broken model and replaces it with something fairer. Day one rights to protection against unfair dismissal. Day one rights to parental leave. The end of exploitative zero-hours contracts. A ban on the disgraceful “fire and rehire” tactics used to bully workers into signing worse contracts. Strengthening statutory sick pay and extending it to another 1.3 million of the lowest earners.
These aren’t just improvements for employees – they’re good for businesses too. Higher staff retention, lower recruitment costs, and a more stable, productive workforce. Security at work isn’t the enemy of growth – it’s the foundation of it.
But look at who lined up against it. The Conservatives, of course, but also Reform, who claim to be the party of working people. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was a revealing moment. When the choice was between standing with working families in West Cumbria or siding with the exploiters, the Tories and Reform chose the latter. They showed once again that they are not on the side of the working people who graft to keep our economy moving.
For too long, Britain has had a low-wage, high-insecurity model of work. The result? Families unable to plan their futures, communities hollowed out, and the worst period of industrial strife in decades under the last Conservative government. This Bill turns the page. It’s about building a new partnership between government, business and trade unions – one rooted in co-operation not conflict.
No one should be treated as disposable at work. No one should fear losing their job because they asked for fair hours or called in sick. And no one should doubt that this Labour government is serious about raising the floor of workplace rights, creating a fairer economy and giving working people the dignity they deserve.
Reform UK like to dress themselves up as something new, but the truth is they are fast becoming nothing more than the Conservative Party in exile. Every week another senior Tory who led us to the mess we inherited last summer crosses the floor to join them, and every week Reform’s voting record shows they are welded to the same old dogma: weaker rights for workers, handouts for bad bosses, and hostility to trade unions. They are not a fresh alternative – they are the same busted engine of insecurity and low pay, just with a different badge on the bonnet.
Labour is the only party of decent work, fair pay, and a better deal for working people in West Cumbria and across Britain.
Josh MacAlister MP 