Rebecca Long-Bailey today said workers should have a legal right to turn off their phones and email after working hours.
Vowing to curb “the 24/7 work culture” the Labour leadership candidate said it would improve mental health if people could de-stress in the evenings without being called or having to check emails.
A “right to disconnect” has been created in France, where employers of more than 50 workers have to negotiate with unions on allowing staff to ignore their mobiles.
Ms Long-Bailey called it an example of “aspirational socialism” which meant “coming together to collectively solve issues that are damaging our mental health and stopping us getting quality time with our families”.
The Left-winger is bidding to succeed Jeremy Corbyn after Labour’s worst general election result since 1935.
But in an interview with BBC1 this morning, she claimed the defeat was not down to the party’s policies but because they were not well presented to voters.
“We had some of the most transformative policies that we’ve had in a generation but the problem was we didn’t package them correctly,” she claimed.
She admitted Labour’s position on Brexit was “disastrous” because it could not say which side the party would back in a second referendum.
The Salford and Eccles MP is seen as being closest ideologically to Mr Corbyn.
She is standing against Sir Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry, with the new leader set to be elected on April 4.
