Sunday, January 17, 2021
Are workers' rights going to be another broken Brexit promise?
As if there were not already enough broken promises around Brexit, the Mirror reports on a highly controversial breach of faith that is supposedly under consideration by Boris Johnson's Government.
They say fury is mounting at Boris Johnson’s plans to ‘rip up’ workers’ rights after Brexit - after repeatedly claiming they were safe:
The Prime Minister had said he would go even further than EU laws to protect workers in the UK.
Yet today the Financial Times revealed officials have looked at changing the 48-hour limit on the working week, known as the 'working time directive'.
Officials also looked at tweaking rules around breaks and scrapping the need to factor overtime into holiday pay, or the need for firms to report working hours.
The Mirror understands the leaked proposals, while not confirmed, official policy or put to Cabinet, are genuine.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng - who in 2012 said Brits "are among the worst idlers in the world", working "among the lowest hours" - today insisted “we are not going to lower the standards of workers’ rights”.
But neither he nor Downing Street denied the plans had been looked at, or ruled out putting them into action in future.
Asked if Boris Johnson viewed removing overtime from holiday pay or changing breaks counted as “lowering” workers’ rights, the PM’s spokesman said: “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals”.
He added: “We will continue to look at policies to help and stimulate business growth, innovation and job creations but those policies would never be at the expense of workers' rights.”
The promise to protect workers' rights was a key one in the Brexit campaign and reassured many working class voters as they considered the idea of leaving the EU. Conveniently, the Mirror provides a list of all the promises the Tories made on the matter:
3 October 2019: Boris Johnson tells MPs “we will be ensuring this country has the highest standards for workers’ rights” and claims: “It is the intention of this Government to go higher still.”
17 October 2019: The Withdrawal Agreement shunts workers’ rights back to the non-binding ‘Political Declaration’ but Boris Johnson claims there’s no reason for alarm. He says: “We want the highest protections, the highest standards in this country.”
19 October 2019: The PM pledges that “whenever” the EU introduces a new workers’ rights law, “even if it is in some way inferior to our own by then”, MPs will have a chance to “put it into UK law”.
22 October 2019: The PM’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill reveals that, in fact, ministers will only have to make a statement about whether new UK laws “regress” from EU workers' rights. There’s nothing stopping them going ahead.
23 October 2019: Boris Johnson again pledges the “highest possible standards”, insisting that “whatever the EU comes up with, we can match it and pass it into the law of this country.”
26 October 2019: Kwasi Kwarteng says claims the Tories will undermine workers’ rights are “completely mad” and “we will be better than our word”.
13 December 2019: Boris Johnson wins election on a manifesto saying Brexit can let Britain “raise standards in areas like workers’ rights”.
17 December 2019: The PM’s spokesman promises “the largest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation”.
19 December 2019: Boris Johnson scraps even the weak clause (above) on protecting workers’ rights from his Withdrawal Agreement Bill. Instead the Tories promise an Employment Bill but refuse to say exactly what will be in it. As of January 2021 it still hasn’t been published.
8 January 2020: Downing Street says Boris Johnson is “clear” that we will “continue to ensure high standards in the UK in areas like workers’ rights”.
3 February 2020: Boris Johnson moans of the “absurd caricature of Britain as a nation bent on the slash and burn of workers’ rights”. He slams the idea that we were “saved from Dickensian squalor” by EU rules and says the UK goes further.
24 December 2020: After months of talks, UK and EU agree a Brexit deal that will allow UK to diverge from EU rules' on workers' rights. UK insists that if we diverge too far, we could face tariffs.
27 December 2020: The PM tells the Sunday Telegraph the UK “won't immediately send children up chimneys”. he adds: “We're not going to regress, and you'd expect that."
15 January 2021: Leaked plans show officials have looked at changing the 48-hour limit on the working week; the inclusion of overtime in holiday pay; and the need for firms to report working hours. The PM’s spokesman refuses to deny the plans have been looked at, or rule them out in future. He claims: “We will continue to look at policies to help and stimulate business growth, innovation and job creations but those policies would never be at the expense of workers' rights.”
Now we have to wait to see if they will keep their word.
They say fury is mounting at Boris Johnson’s plans to ‘rip up’ workers’ rights after Brexit - after repeatedly claiming they were safe:
The Prime Minister had said he would go even further than EU laws to protect workers in the UK.
Yet today the Financial Times revealed officials have looked at changing the 48-hour limit on the working week, known as the 'working time directive'.
Officials also looked at tweaking rules around breaks and scrapping the need to factor overtime into holiday pay, or the need for firms to report working hours.
The Mirror understands the leaked proposals, while not confirmed, official policy or put to Cabinet, are genuine.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng - who in 2012 said Brits "are among the worst idlers in the world", working "among the lowest hours" - today insisted “we are not going to lower the standards of workers’ rights”.
But neither he nor Downing Street denied the plans had been looked at, or ruled out putting them into action in future.
Asked if Boris Johnson viewed removing overtime from holiday pay or changing breaks counted as “lowering” workers’ rights, the PM’s spokesman said: “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals”.
He added: “We will continue to look at policies to help and stimulate business growth, innovation and job creations but those policies would never be at the expense of workers' rights.”
The promise to protect workers' rights was a key one in the Brexit campaign and reassured many working class voters as they considered the idea of leaving the EU. Conveniently, the Mirror provides a list of all the promises the Tories made on the matter:
3 October 2019: Boris Johnson tells MPs “we will be ensuring this country has the highest standards for workers’ rights” and claims: “It is the intention of this Government to go higher still.”
17 October 2019: The Withdrawal Agreement shunts workers’ rights back to the non-binding ‘Political Declaration’ but Boris Johnson claims there’s no reason for alarm. He says: “We want the highest protections, the highest standards in this country.”
19 October 2019: The PM pledges that “whenever” the EU introduces a new workers’ rights law, “even if it is in some way inferior to our own by then”, MPs will have a chance to “put it into UK law”.
22 October 2019: The PM’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill reveals that, in fact, ministers will only have to make a statement about whether new UK laws “regress” from EU workers' rights. There’s nothing stopping them going ahead.
23 October 2019: Boris Johnson again pledges the “highest possible standards”, insisting that “whatever the EU comes up with, we can match it and pass it into the law of this country.”
26 October 2019: Kwasi Kwarteng says claims the Tories will undermine workers’ rights are “completely mad” and “we will be better than our word”.
13 December 2019: Boris Johnson wins election on a manifesto saying Brexit can let Britain “raise standards in areas like workers’ rights”.
17 December 2019: The PM’s spokesman promises “the largest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation”.
19 December 2019: Boris Johnson scraps even the weak clause (above) on protecting workers’ rights from his Withdrawal Agreement Bill. Instead the Tories promise an Employment Bill but refuse to say exactly what will be in it. As of January 2021 it still hasn’t been published.
8 January 2020: Downing Street says Boris Johnson is “clear” that we will “continue to ensure high standards in the UK in areas like workers’ rights”.
3 February 2020: Boris Johnson moans of the “absurd caricature of Britain as a nation bent on the slash and burn of workers’ rights”. He slams the idea that we were “saved from Dickensian squalor” by EU rules and says the UK goes further.
24 December 2020: After months of talks, UK and EU agree a Brexit deal that will allow UK to diverge from EU rules' on workers' rights. UK insists that if we diverge too far, we could face tariffs.
27 December 2020: The PM tells the Sunday Telegraph the UK “won't immediately send children up chimneys”. he adds: “We're not going to regress, and you'd expect that."
15 January 2021: Leaked plans show officials have looked at changing the 48-hour limit on the working week; the inclusion of overtime in holiday pay; and the need for firms to report working hours. The PM’s spokesman refuses to deny the plans have been looked at, or rule them out in future. He claims: “We will continue to look at policies to help and stimulate business growth, innovation and job creations but those policies would never be at the expense of workers' rights.”
Now we have to wait to see if they will keep their word.
