Stephen Dixon clashed with education secretary Bridget Phillipson this morning as he repeatedly pressed her on Labour “breaking manifesto pledges”.
The Education Secretary was challenged over the Workers’ Rights Bill after key elements were dropped.
Stephen said: “Can we start with the Workers’ Rights Bill? Because a key element of that, we know, has now gone, much to the chagrin of some of your backbenchers. But, I mean, it is breaking a manifesto promise, isn’t it?
Bridget Phillipson: “So the Employment Rights Bill represents the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.
“It includes lots of important protections around sick pay, parental leave, zero-hours contracts.
“There’s one area on unfair dismissal where discussions have been taking place in recent days between employers and trade unions to find a way through, because the risk was that we wouldn’t be able to deliver the bill next April, which would have held things up by another year.
“And we didn’t want to see that happen, because millions of people across our country are set to benefit from these changes, and many of your viewers will have better rights and protections at work because of this bill.”
GB News host Ellie Costello hit back: “But it’s the second break of a manifesto pledge in so many days. The left of your party isn’t going to be happy.
“Angela Rayner isn’t going to be happy. The unions aren’t happy, they’ve been telling the papers that already. We could see another welfare rebellion on our hands here, couldn’t we?”
Bridget Phillipson refused to say they had broken a pledge
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Ms Phillipson said: “So we said in our manifesto that we wanted to bring forward an important deal on protections.
“We also said that we would consult with business and trade unions and others to make that happen. And we’ve done that. So there has been a pragmatic way forward that’s been found.
“There will still be a big improvement around unfair dismissal rights, no longer two years you have to wait in order to make a claim, but down to six months.
“That means we can continue with the passage of the bill through Parliament.
Ms Phillipson said Labour had to take a “pragmatic” approach to secure the wider reforms
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“It means that from next April, we hope that so many of those rights will be delivered, and that will make a huge difference to working people.
Stephen fumed: “Well, yes, I mean, you say that, but you’re not really addressing the issue of a manifesto pledge being broken and what impact that’s going to have with your backbenchers.
“I mean, there was certainly a sense with the Budget that, you know, it’s the tail wagging the dog in the Labour Party at the moment.”
Ms Phillipson said Labour had to take a “pragmatic” approach to secure the wider reforms, arguing that without recent talks with the trade unions, the entire package of rights could have been pushed back by a further year.
Instead of coming into force next April, she warned they may not have been implemented until 2027.
She insisted those discussions were necessary to keep the timetable on track, calling the bill “the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.”
She stressed that Labour MPs feel strongly about the issue and said the trade unions also want to see movement.
“We are delivering progress on it,” she added.