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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.

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“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.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to the Lind and Lime distillery in Leith, Edinburgh. Picture date: Monday August 14, 2023.
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

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.”

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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.

EMBARGOED TO 0001 WEDNESDAY MAY 31 File photo dated 07/09/22 of Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch.
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Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch

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.”

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US charges 2 men over $650M OmegaPro crypto scam

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US charges 2 men over 0M OmegaPro crypto scam

US charges 2 men over 0M OmegaPro crypto scam

US prosecutors charged two men for allegedly running the crypto fraud scheme OmegaPro, which promised 300% returns to investors.

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US sanctions North Korean tech worker crew over crypto thefts

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US sanctions North Korean tech worker crew over crypto thefts

US sanctions North Korean tech worker crew over crypto thefts

TRM Labs said North Korea is moving away from hacks to focus more on deception-based revenue generation, such as planting IT workers in US companies.

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UK and France have ‘shared responsibility’ to tackle illegal migration, Emmanuel Macron says

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UK and France have 'shared responsibility' to tackle illegal migration, Emmanuel Macron says

Emmanuel Macron has said the UK and France have a “shared responsibility” to tackle the “burden” of illegal migration, as he urged co-operation between London and Paris ahead of a crunch summit later this week.

Addressing parliament in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday, the French president said the UK-France summit would bring “cooperation and tangible results” regarding the small boats crisis in the Channel.

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King Charles III at the State Banquet for President of France Emmanuel Macron. Pic: PA
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King Charles III at the State Banquet for President of France Emmanuel Macron. Pic: PA

Mr Macron – who is the first European leader to make a state visit to the UK since Brexit – told the audience that while migrants’ “hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate”, “we cannot allow our countries’ rules for taking in people to be flouted and criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life”.

“France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness,” he added.

Looking ahead to the UK-France summit on Thursday, he promised the “best ever cooperation” between France and the UK “to fix today what is a burden for our two countries”.

Sir Keir Starmer will hope to reach a deal with his French counterpart on a “one in, one out” migrant returns deal at the key summit on Thursday.

King Charles also addressed the delegations at a state banquet in Windsor Castle on Tuesday evening, saying the summit would “deepen our alliance and broaden our partnerships still further”.

King Charles speaking at state banquet welcoming Macron.
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King Charles speaking at state banquet welcoming Macron.

Sitting next to President Macron, the monarch said: “Our armed forces will cooperate even more closely across the world, including to support Ukraine as we join together in leading a coalition of the willing in defence of liberty and freedom from oppression. In other words, in defence of our shared values.”

In April, British officials confirmed a pilot scheme was being considered to deport migrants who cross the English Channel in exchange for the UK accepting asylum seekers in France with legitimate claims.

The two countries have engaged in talks about a one-for-one swap, enabling undocumented asylum seekers who have reached the UK by small boat to be returned to France.

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Britain would then receive migrants from France who would have a right to be in the UK, like those who already have family settled here.

The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.

France's President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the Palace of Westminster during a state visit to the UK
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President Macron greets Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle at his address to parliament in Westminster.

Elsewhere in his speech, the French president addressed Brexit, and said the UK could not “stay on the sidelines” despite its departure from the European Union.

He said European countries had to break away from economic dependence on the US and China.

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“Our two countries are among the oldest sovereign nations in Europe, and sovereignty means a lot to both of us, and everything I referred to was about sovereignty, deciding for ourselves, choosing our technologies, our economy, deciding our diplomacy, and deciding the content we want to share and the ideas we want to share, and the controversies we want to share.

“Even though it is not part of the European Union, the United Kingdom cannot stay on the sidelines because defence and security, competitiveness, democracy – the very core of our identity – are connected across Europe as a continent.”

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