The Government’s decision to abandon day-one workers’ rights against unfair dismissal is not a U-turn and does not break Labour’s manifesto, a senior Cabinet minister has insisted.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson insisted the Employment Rights Bill remained “the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation”, after the Government announced a key plank of it would be dropped.
Ministers have axed the proposal to cut the “qualifying period” for workers to make an unfair dismissal claim from 24 months to the first day in a new job, in a bid to get the legislation through Parliament.
The Government now intends to introduce the right after six months of service instead, while other day-one rights to parental leave and sick pay are still set to go ahead, coming into effect in April 2026.
Asked whether watering down the Bill was a U-turn, Ms Phillipson told BBC Breakfast: “I don’t accept that characterisation, I’m afraid. The Employment Rights Bill represents the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.”
Asked by Sky News if it was a broken promise, Ms Phillipson insisted it was not.
She also said: “In the manifesto, what we said was that we would work with trade unions, with businesses, with civil society, in consulting on those protections that we’d be bringing forward.
“So, there are both parts to that, within the manifesto, the important rights and the consultation.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also, in recent days, been accused of breaching the manifesto commitment to not raise headline taxes on working people by extending a freeze in tax thresholds at the Budget.
The Bill, Labour’s flagship workers’ rights package, has recently been caught in a stand-off between peers and MPs over the original plan to give workers the protection on day one, as well as measures to ban “exploitative” zero-hours contracts.
Labour’s manifesto explicitly promised to “consult fully with businesses, workers, and civil society on how to put our plans into practice before legislation is passed”.
“This will include banning exploitative zero-hours contracts; ending fire and rehire; and introducing basic rights from day one to parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal,” it said.
The concession, which comes after some businesses voiced concerns about potential costs and recruitment challenges, sparked an immediate backlash among some backbenchers and the Unite union.
Labour MP for Poole, Neil Duncan-Jordan, told the PA news agency: “There has been no discussion with the PLP about this.
“The Lords don’t have primacy over a manifesto commitment, so why have we capitulated?”
Labour MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, told PA: “Employers have nothing to fear from day-one rights, but workers have everything to fear from an employer who doesn’t want day-one rights.”
Former employment minister Justin Madders, who was sacked in the Prime Minister’s reshuffle earlier this year, also disputed Business Secretary Peter Kyle’s claim that the move did not amount to a manifesto breach.
“It might be a compromise. It might even be necessary to get the Bill passed (as soon as possible). But it most definitely is a manifesto breach,” the MP for Ellesmere Port and Bromborough said.
Speaking to broadcasters on Thursday evening, Mr Kyle denied the concession was a breach of Labour’s manifesto and insisted the compromise had been found by “unions and the employers” and “it’s not my job to stand in the way of that compromise”.
Unite boss Sharon Graham said the Bill had become “a shell of its former self” while TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the “absolute priority” was to get the legislation on to the statute books.
Business groups welcomed Thursday’s concession, saying the qualifying period of six months was “crucial for businesses’ confidence to hire and to support employment, at the same time as protecting workers”.
However, they warned that firms would “still have concerns” about many of the powers within the Bill, including thresholds for industrial action, guaranteed hours contracts and seasonal and temporary workers.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch described the move as “another humiliating U-turn” for Labour and said the legislation still contains “measures that will damage businesses and be terrible for economic growth”.
