Photographer: Hollie Adams / Bloomberg
Photographer: Hollie Adams / Bloomberg
British government explores workers’ rights reforms that would violate EU rules, potentially opening up UK up to retaliatory measures in the bloc.
Officials have drawn up proposals that would remove the 48-hour working week limit, according to someone familiar with the matter, who said plans were preliminary and ministers had not yet made decisions. The measures were first reported by the Financial Times.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on Twitter that the government “will not lower workers’ rights standards.”
If the plans are pursued, they have the potential to cause friction with the EU just weeks after the UK sealed a deal. trade agreement with the bloc. Negotiations lasted until just before Christmas, the so-called fair conditions of fair competition being one of the last areas of conflict.
the agreement allows the UK and the EU to set their own labor, environmental, climate and social policies, but also allows retaliation if any change results in “material impacts on trade or investment between the parties”.
Also taken into account are changes to the regulations around breaks during the working day and a proposal not to include overtime when calculating holiday pay, according to the person. The government aims to make changes that can support business and growth without undermining worker protection, they said.
“Enhanced” rights
“We have absolutely no intention of lowering workers’ rights standards,” the government said in a statement. “Leaving the EU allows us to continue to be standards and to protect and strengthen the rights of workers in the UK.”
Any proposal that comes up will be subject to full consultation to ensure that no policy that is followed has unintended consequences that diminish workers’ rights, the person said.
Labor Party spokesman Ed Miliband accused ministers of “preparing to break their promises to the British people and taking a stand on workers’ rights” and said his party would “fight teeth and nails” for defend existing protections.
Breaking rights
“These proposals are not aimed at reducing bureaucracy for businesses, but eliminating vital rights for workers,” he said in a statement. “The government wants Britain to compete on the backs of ordinary people who are losing their rights.”
As Britain left the EU, sharing the same environmental and labor rules, the ability to rid the country of bureaucracy in Brussels was hailed by Brexit supporters as one of its grand prizes during the 2016 referendum campaign.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was one of the main characters in that campaign, held a conference last week call the business leaders during which he asked them to help him decide what regulations should be broken now, when the block divorce is complete.