Business secretary pledges to implement Employment Rights Bill ‘in full’ amid claims it might be watered down

“I will implement the Employment Rights Bill in full”, new business secretary Peter Kyle has declared.

His comments at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool come following claims that his appointment as the boss of the Department for Business and Trade in the prime minister’s recent reshuffle could mean that the controversial Employment Rights Bill will be watered down.

The Employment Rights Bill sets out 28 employment reforms aimed at meeting the government’s manifesto commitment to “make work pay”.

It includes day one rights for employees to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave and protection from unfair dismissal, statutory sick pay available for all workers and increased time limits for employment tribunal claims.

Business groups have criticised the Bill for the costs and added red tape it puts on employers.

Angela Rayner, who led on the Bill, quit the government and former employment rights minister Justin Madders lost his job in the reshuffle.

Responding to an article in the Guardian that said the “reshuffle…raises fears over future of Labour’s workers’ rights bill” with suggestions it might be watered down to appease business groups, Madders posted on X:

“Let’s hope these fears are unfounded because it would be really, really foolish for the government to row back on key manifesto commitments that are popular with the public and will show what a positive difference a Labour Government can make.”

The government recently rejected Lords amendments to the Bill that were supported by many business groups.

Continuing his Labour conference speech after commiting to implementing the Employment Rights Bill in full, Kyle said:

“Let me pay tribute also to the extraordinary work of Angela Rayner, not just on this Bill, but for so much more too. We are eternally grateful to all that she has given to our movement.

“Now, I believe in public services – it’s what brought me into this movement, and I also believe in the success of British businesses too. 

“You see, I don’t believe that you can have one without the other, and Britain only succeeds when it gets the best from both.

“Businesses and workers, public and private, manufacturing and services, traditional and new.”