Labour frontbencher fails to deny claims party has watered down commitment to workers’ rights

Published

2 years ago

August 18, 2023

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A Labour frontbencher has failed to deny claims the party has watered down its key commitment to strengthen workers’ rights.

The Financial Times alleged leader Sir Keir Starmer has scaled back this commitment in an attempt to appease corporate backers, including by diluting his pledge to bolster the rights of gig workers.

This would mean rolling back on Labour’s promise to create a single category of “worker” for all those who are not self-employed, a change that was intended to secure “rights and protections” for all working people.

Asked about these reports on Sky News, the shadow schools minister Stephen Morgan said he could not comment.

Instead, he stressed Labour will be “pro-worker and pro-business”, adding that more detail will be set out in the party’s manifesto ahead of the upcoming general election.

He said: “Labour set out its five national missions. That has been approved by our national policy forum in July.

“Obviously we will set out more detail in our manifesto, but the Labour Party can be pro-worker and pro-business.

“We have got a really good relationship with business now, we can be trusted to run our economy and to run our country, and we have got a set of policies which are pro-worker too.”

The FT claims the pledge was diluted at Labour’s national policy forum in Nottingham last month, citing people familiar with the matter and related texts seen by the newspaper.

The document, agreed in July, will reportedly be published ahead of Labour’s Party Conference in October.

But extracts seen by the newspaper allegedly show how Labour has reined in its 2021 promise to create a single status of “worker” for all but the self-employed.

The policy will reportedly not be introduced immediately, and instead Labour will consult on the proposal and consider how this “simpler framework” could “properly capture the breadth of employment relationships in the UK”.

However, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has since insisted Labour remains committed to reforming workers’ rights.

She said: “Labour’s New Deal for Working People will be the biggest levelling-up of workers’ rights in decades – providing security, treating workers fairly, and paying a decent wage.

“I’m proud that we developed our comprehensive New Deal together with Labour’s affiliated unions. Far from watering it down, we will now set out in detail how we will implement it and tackle the Tories’ scaremongering.”

Separately, the Conservative Campaign Headquarters has reportedly drawn up a list of 20 Labour policy proposals it considers “anti-business” – including the pledge allegedly watered down last month.

It is anticipated that Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch will challenge these plans in the coming months.

But Labour has since hit back, telling Sky News this criticism is “desperate and inaccurate”.

A source added: “Last month’s National Policy Forum endorsed Keir Starmer’s programme, his five missions for government, and the fiscal rules that he and Rachel Reeves have set out.

“This is a serious, credible and ambitious policy programme that lays the groundwork for an election-winning manifesto and a mission-driven Labour government that will build a better Britain. That includes growing a strong economy by levelling-up workers’ rights and making work pay. There are no unfunded spending commitments in the document.”

Politics

Crypto influencers are replacing VCs, and that’s a good thing

Published

4 hours ago

August 9, 2025

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Crypto influencers are replacing VCs, and that’s a good thing

Crypto influencers democratize early-stage investing by offering transparent, accessible opportunities that VCs keep behind closed doors for the elite.

Politics

UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand condemn Israel’s plan for new operation in Gaza

Published

13 hours ago

August 9, 2025

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UK joins four countries in condemning Israel's plan for new operation in Gaza

The UK and four allies have criticised Israel’s decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza – warning it will “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the territory.

The foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand said in a joint statement that the offensive will “endanger the lives of hostages” and “risk violating international humanitarian law”.

It comes a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved an operation to take military control of Gaza City – and concluded a full takeover of the enclave is required to end the conflict.

It marks another escalation in the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

In their joint statement, the UK and its allies said they “strongly reject” the decision, adding: “It will endanger the lives of the hostages and further risk the mass displacement of civilians.

“The plans that the government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.”

The countries also called for a permanent ceasefire as “the worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza”.

It comes as Sky News analysis has found that airdrops of aid are making little difference to Gaza’s hunger crisis, and pose serious risks to the population – with a father-of-two killed by a falling package.

Meanwhile, France, Canada, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations all criticised Israel’s plan for a full occupation of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “expressed his disappointment” with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s in phone call on Friday after Berlin decided it would stop selling arms to Israel.

In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister’s office added: “Instead of supporting Israel’s just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel.”

US ambassador hits out at Starmer

Earlier on Friday, the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, criticised Sir Keir Starmer after he said Israel’s decision to “escalate its offensive” in Gaza is “wrong”.

Mr Huckabee wrote on X: “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!”

In another post around an hour later Mr Huckabee wrote: “How much food has Starmer and the UK sent to Gaza?

“@IsraeliPM has already sent 2 MILLION TONS into Gaza & none of it even getting to hostages.”

Sir Keir has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza.

The UK and its allies criticised Israel as US President JD Vance and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met at Chevening House in Kent on Friday.

Mr Vance described a “disagreement” about how the US and UK could achieve their “common objectives” in the Middle East, and said the Trump administration had “no plans to recognise a Palestinian state”.

He said: “I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of functional government there.”

Mr Vance added: “There’s a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, it’s a tough situation.”

The UN Security Council will meet on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said earlier on Friday that a number of countries would be requesting a meeting of the UN Security Council on Israel’s plans.

Politics

BlackRock launching a SOL ETF in first wave would be ‘messed up’ — Analyst

Published

13 hours ago

August 9, 2025

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<div>BlackRock launching a SOL ETF in first wave would be 'messed up' — Analyst</div>

BlackRock hasn’t filed for a Solana ETF, but ETF analyst James Seyffart says they shouldn’t be allowed to jump in at the last minute after other issuers’ hard work.