London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Business Secretary Peter Kyle urges companies to engage with Labour on the employment rights bill, promising consultations despite Conservative criticism.
As reported by The Guardian, Business Secretary Peter Kyle has urged firms to provide input on Labour’s workers’ rights reforms amid concerns over jobs and economic growth.
What did Peter Kyle say about Labour’s workers’ rights bill?
Speaking at a CBI conference in London, Peter Kyle indicated potential changes to Labour’s workers’ rights reforms, promising 26 consultations with companies after the bill passes.
He said,
“When we launch these consultations, please engage with it. Make your voice heard and engage with me and my department to make sure we get it right.”
Ahead of the autumn budget, Business Secretary Peter Kyle pledged to protect businesses, assuring they would not “lose” under Labour’s reforms, including zero-hour contract limits and day-one worker protections.
He stated,
“I will not allow it to become zero-sum, [you] give one to the other, the other loses …This has to be got right.”
Mr Kyle told the audience they could be confident in his role, despite past criticism for meeting big tech companies 70% more than his Tory predecessor.
He said,
“That’s a criticism that I happily accept and it’s one that I expect to repeat in this job.”
The business secretary acknowledged that ongoing speculation ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s budget had undermined business confidence.
He added,
“I accept that some businesses have said that they are frustrated with the speculation, and that is something whenever business say to me that they want things done differently. I will listen to them and I’ll respect it, and I’ll give them a voice in the future decisions that we take.”
Speaking to reporters at the conference, Mr Kyle assured he would address any parliamentary hold-ups from Lords’ amendments before consulting on the bill’s implementation.
The business secretary continued,
“The voice of business, the voice of people who work in business, will be heard when we get down into the weeds of implementing those key parts of the employment rights bill. And yes, I’m talking about zero-hours contracts and day one rights.”
Commenting on economic growth, Mr Kyle admitted the government needs “more urgency” to grow the economy, rejecting claims that growth is no longer a priority.
He said,
“I accept that we need more urgency, we need boldness because we inherited a growth emergency, we are still in that growth emergency that we inherited and that means we need to act with more boldness, creativity and urgency and that is what I’ll be doing.”
The business secretary emphasized there is no instant fix but stressed that solutions take time, assuring that support for businesses facing energy costs is being provided.
What did Kemi Badenoch say about Labour’s workers’ rights bill?
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told the CBI that Labour’s workers’ rights reforms could pose a greater threat to businesses and the economy than tax increases in Rachel Reeves’s budget.
She said,
“It is a 330-page assault on flexible working, written in the TUC’s headquarters, designed to drag Britain back to a world where unions are calling the shots.”
Ms Badenoch urges Ms Reeves to scrap the Employment Rights Bill in Wednesday’s budget, calling it a purely political project that adds no revenue, jobs, or productivity.
She stated,
“Killing it would be a sign to the world that Britain still understands what makes an economy grow. And if the chancellor had any sense and any regard for business, she would use the budgets to say, ‘we got this one wrong’, and then she would drop it.”
The Tory leader explained that under her leadership, the reforms would be reversed, criticizing Peter Kyle’s assurances to businesses as mostly symbolic.
She added,
“If 26 consultations are what you need to fix things, then you have a really, really big problem.”
Ms Badenoch criticized the chancellor, claiming her party does not support anyone treating business like a “piggy bank.”
She said,
“We are on the side of the small business that cannot afford an in-house legal team, but still wants to take a chance on a young apprentice.”
The Tory leader added,
“We are on the side of the saver and the pensioner whose livelihoods depend on this country actually growing. We are on the side of the worker who wants work to pay, not to be trapped in a welfare system that rewards idleness and punishes effort.”
She continued,
“What Britain needs now is real fairness. Real fairness means living within our means out of respect for taxpayers. It means helping people back to work because idleness waste lives. It means planning for tomorrow’s children, not just today’s headlines.”
What is Labour’s Workers and Employment Rights Bill?
Labour’s employment rights bill, currently under parliamentary review, has been amended three times in the Lords by Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers to address business concerns.
The bill proposes “day one” protection from unfair dismissal, replacing the two-year wait, with a lighter dismissal process during probation. Workers on zero-hours contracts will get the right to a contract reflecting their regular hours, with compensation for cancelled shifts.
The employment bill seeks to strengthen the right to request flexible working, requiring employers to give valid reasons if refusing.
The worker’s right legislation allows changes to strike rules, making dismissal for industrial action automatically unfair and easing union recognition and ballot processes.
Under the proposed bill, employers must take “all reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment and can be held liable for harassment by third parties.