Is Angela Rayner really being sidelined in this government, having been steamrollered by the rush for growth championed by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves? That is a hypothesis which has been put forward many times in recent months, but it is not true to judge by the reaction of businesses to the Employment Rights Bill.
The CBI – which gave the impression that it couldn’t get rid of the Tories fast enough after Boris Johnson’s Peppa Pig fiasco – is not the least bit impressed, with chief executive Rain Newton-Smith complaining: ‘The government has been commendably open to seeking feedback from industry about these plans,’ but that it ‘has not translated into meaningful change to several key areas where the legislation locks in an irreversible direction of travel.’
In other words: you gave the impression that you were listening to us, but you then ignored us.
Particular areas of grievance for the CBI, as well as the Federation of Small Businesses, are the demand that employers offer guaranteed hours to workers currently employed on zero-hours contracts, and an increase in the awards that employment tribunals are allowed to make against employers.
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