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Tomorrow is the first real test of how bold Labour are prepared to go in this conference season – possibly the last before the general election.

Two hundred miles north of Westminster in Liverpool, the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner will tell the Trades Union Congress about plans to strengthen workers’ rights and union rights, which in the past has been one of the most kinetic and controversial parts of Labour’s policy agenda.

The tone she takes, the content she emphasises and the measures she includes – and leaves out – will reveal much about whether, behind the scenes, Labour is really as confident as it wants to project.

Should Labour choose, this could be one of the most fundamental diving lines of the next election and a key part of Labour’s template for change – opening clear red water between them and the Tories and nudging the national consensus towards workers and away from employers after 13 years of drift in the other direction under Tory rule.

It includes the first steps in the return to mass collective bargaining and a new right to ignore bosses at weekends.

Yet the spin from the top is reassurance, not revolution.

“We want a return to a New Labour settlement on trade union laws. This is about a new working partnership with the unions,” a Labour source told Sky News.

“The New Labour settlement – which had near zero strikes – is our aim,” they added – language designed to appeal to business leaders not appease union barons.

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Unite union boss Sharon Graham defends her ’90s tribute act’ criticism of Labour

Others worry some parts of Sir Keir Starmer’s regime appear more than happy to form an alliance with the most truculent left wing Labour union, Unite, to imply this whole agenda was watered down just before the summer at the National Policy Forum discussions between party figures and trade unions.

Anything that jeopardises the headline priority – growth – and impedes improving relations with the unions, is not a priority, they believe.

Yet this all comes at a cost.

“I do worry we’re not prepared to be exciting enough,” said one member of the shadow cabinet wanting the party to go big on the rights agenda.

While some changes to water down the agenda were indeed made pre-summer, and a couple of policy details softened, the vast swathe obtained by Sky News suggests a more meaty agenda than many realise – including a bill promised in the first 100 days of government.

Sky News understands the overall package includes:

• Gradual return of collective bargaining through ‘Fair Pay Agreements’

This is potentially the most far reaching and controversial change, with Labour naming social care – a sector it believes is in massive crisis – as the first sector it intends to target for a new system.

New bodies would negotiate minimum terms and conditions binding on all employees in a sector. This could mean some sectors could have a higher minimum level of pay than the minimum wage. The agreements could cover pay, pensions, working time, holidays, health and safety and training.

Labour concedes this will take time – “we need to get the architecture right” – and that this will not be right for many bits of the economy.

• Ban fire and rehire

At the moment businesses are meant to make contractual changes to employees’ working conditions through agreement but they currently have the right to do so unilaterally by terminating their contracts and re-hiring them on new ones.

This is designed to be used only in “exceptional” circumstances only but Labour says it’s being abused. Labour has committed to outlawing this practice by “adapting unfair dismissal and redundancy legislation to prevent workers being dismissed for failing to agree to a worse contract”.

• ‘Day 1’ employment rights

At the moment, the law leaves workers waiting up to two years to access some of their rights. Labour says it will end this “arbitrary” system and scrap qualifying time for basic rights, such as unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave.

Labour is keen to stress this is not a two-year ban on dismissal and would not impact anyone being given a probationary period by their employer.

• Ban on ‘exploitative’ zero hours contracts

This will give employees the right to request a contract reflecting the hours they work after they have been there for 12 weeks. Workers will have a right to decline to use this right. Labour says some details still need to be worked through on how to do this, and this is one of the areas where the provisions have been watered down before the summer.

• Repeal of 2016 Cameron and 2022 Sunak anti-union legislation

Labour says this will rewind the clock to the 2010 settlement on trade union laws. The 2016 Trade Union Act introduced a new requirement of 50% of union members to vote in a ballot for strike action.

It would also change the laws to allow strikes by electronic ballot rather than on paper, which the party argues brings it in line with how the Conservative Party elects its leader.

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• Right to switch off

Labour said last year it would bring in a “right to switch off” so working from home does not become homes turning into 24/7 offices.

Labour says it is looking at Belgium, where from April companies with 20+ employees must have a written document setting out a policy on the right to disconnect. It’s looking at Italy too, where “smart workers” whose job takes place partially off premises must have a written agreement where bosses “specify technical and organisational measures” so workers have a “right to disconnect from company devices”. And Ireland also has a new code of practice.

However, Labour is clear this does not mean you can “never” speak to employees outside working hours, and points to evidence that overseas, these new rights are not a regular feature of tribunals. In Ireland, for instance, the code has meant employees are adding disclaimers to their emails explaining they don’t expect an urgent response.

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• Minimum wage

Last year Labour called for the minimum wage to be a minimum of £10 per hour. However, the government raised the rate from April to £10.42 for over 23s from £9.50 so Labour may up the ante this conference season. Labour has previously said it would ban unpaid internships except when they are part of an education or training course.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and deputy Labour Party leader Angela Rayner board a train to Selby, North Yorkshire at Kings Cross station in London to meet with newly elected MP Keir Mather after his success in the Selby and Ainsty by-election. Picture date: Friday July 21, 2023.

The Tories are desperate to give this agenda the highest profile possible, and expected to go further tightening strike laws in the coming days. It wants to implement anti-strike laws passed last year making unions responsible for minimum levels of workforce in certain sectors, and need to pass secondary legislation to make this work. This is a fight that it wants. Will Labour let the Tories have it by leaning into the issue from tomorrow?

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‘Shameful’ that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

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'Shameful' that black boys in London more likely to die than white boys, says Met Police chief

It is “shameful” that black boys growing up in London are “far more likely” to die than white boys, Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley has told Sky News.

The commissioner told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that relations with minority communities “is difficult for us”.

Sir Mark, who came out of retirement to become head of the UK’s largest police force in 2022, said: “We can’t pretend otherwise that we’ve got a history between policing and black communities where policing has got a lot wrong.

“And we get a lot more right today, but we do still make mistakes. That’s not in doubt. I’m being as relentless in that as it can be.”

He said the “vast majority” of the force are “good people”.

However, he added: “But that legacy, combined with the tragedy that some of this crime falls most heavily in black communities, that creates a real problem because the legacy creates concern.”

Sir Mark, who also leads the UK’s counter-terrorism policing, said it is “not right” that black boys growing up in London “are far more likely to be dead by the time they’re 18” than white boys.

“That’s, I think, shameful for the city,” he admitted.

The Met Police chief’s admission comes two years after an official report found the force is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.

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Police chase suspected phone thief

Baroness Casey was commissioned in 2021 to look into the Met Police after serving police officer Wayne Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.

She pinned the primary blame for the Met’s culture on its past leadership and found that stop and search and the use of force against black people was excessive.

At the time, Sir Mark, who had been commissioner for six months when the report was published, said he would not use the labels of institutionally racist, institutionally misogynistic and institutionally homophobic, which Casey insisted the Met deserved.

However, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who helped hire Sir Mark – and could fire him – made it clear the commissioner agreed with Baroness Casey’s verdict.

After the report was released, Sir Mark said “institutional” was political language so he was not going to use it, but he accepted “we have racists, misogynists…systematic failings, management failings, cultural failings”.

A few months after the report, Sir Mark launched a two-year £366m plan to overhaul the Met, including increased emphasis on neighbourhood policing to rebuild public trust and plans to recruit 500 more community support officers and an extra 565 people to work with teams investigating domestic violence, sexual offences and child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips from 8.30am on Sunday.

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.

Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.

They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.

There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.

But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.

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The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.

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Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.

The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.

Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.

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Rat catcher tackling Birmingham’s bins problem

Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.

‘Missing in action’

General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”

She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.

“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.

“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.

“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”

SN pics from 10/04/25 Tyseley Lane, Tyseley, Birmingham showing some rubbish piling up because of bin strikes
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Piles of rubbish built up around Birmingham because of the strike over pay

Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.

He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.

“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.

A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.

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Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

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Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

Binance’s CZ threatens to sue Bloomberg over Trump stablecoin report

Binance co-founder CZ has dismissed a Bloomberg report linking him to the Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin, threatening legal action over alleged defamation.

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