YOUR RIGHT TO TIME OFF IF RELATIVE NEEDS CARE

Theresa targets Labour voters with launch of a revolution in the workplace

WORKERS will be allowed to take a year’s sabbatical to care for sick relatives, Theresa May will announce today.

The Prime Minister will pledge ‘ the greatest expansion of workers’ rights by any Tory government in history’ as she sets out a raft of new entitlements to woo Labour voters. Employees with family members who fall sick – such as elderly parents – will be able to take up to 12 months’ unpaid leave to provide full-time care while their jobs are kept on hold.

Parents who suffer the tragedy of losing a child will get a statutory two weeks of bereavement leave, and employees will be allowed to request

time off to go on training courses as part of a bid to boost skills and productivity. There will also be a major crackdown on corporate governance, with listed companies forced to have worker representation on their boards.

New rules will stop ‘irresponsible bosses’ making millions while company pension schemes go bankrupt. Ministers also want to close loopholes that allow so-called ‘gig economy’ firms to exploit workers by claiming they are self-employed.

Mrs May’s pitch, which aims to appeal to traditional Labour supporters, comes just days after she accused Jeremy Corbyn of ‘deserting the working class’.

The Prime Minister hopes to pick up seats deep into Labour’s northern heartlands that have not been won by the Tories for decades.

In a bid to ease the concerns of those worried about Brexit, Mrs May will guarantee that all workers’ rights currently offered under EU law will be maintained.

And she will go further, pledging to put building on these entitlements at

‘Time to lock in the economic growth’

the centre of the Tory manifesto that will be unveiled later this week.

During a visit to a training centre in the South East this morning, the Prime Minister will say: ‘I said I would use Brexit to extend the protections and rights that workers enjoy, and our manifesto will deliver exactly that. Our plans, backed up with strong and stable leadership, will be the greatest expansion in workers’ rights by any Conservative Government in history.’

She will add: ‘By working with business, reducing taxes and dealing with the deficit we have delivered steady improvements to the economic prospects of working people. Now is the time to lock in that economic growth and ensure the proceeds are spread to everyone in our country.

‘There is only one leader at this election who will put rights and opportunities for ordinary working families first.

‘The choice next month is clear: economic stability and a better deal for workers under my Conservative team, or chaos under Jeremy Corbyn, whose nonsensical policies would trash the economy and destroy jobs.’ Mrs May will offer workers the right to take up to a year off to look after sick relatives while keeping their jobs, in the same way as new mothers taking maternity leave.

Companies will also be obliged by law to give parents time off following the loss of a child. At the moment, many firms provide informal leave, but ministers will give employees a legal right to bereavement leave – expected to be two weeks. Workers who want to improve their skills will be given the right to ask for time off to go on courses.

Firms will not be obliged to pay for the training or lost wages, but must consider all requests. Ministers hope the move will help tackle the socalled productivity gap.

Mrs May will repeat a vow made earlier in the election campaign to bring in tough new laws to prevent a repeat of the Sir Philip Green BHS pension scandal if she wins. The manifesto will include plans to stop ‘irresponsible bosses’ making millions while company pension schemes go bankrupt.

The move, dubbed the ‘antiPhilip Green charter’, follows repeated calls to protect pensioners from ruthless bosses.

A poll at the weekend showed that Mrs May is on course for a greater election triumph than even Margaret Thatcher at her peak due to a dramatic collapse in Labour support in the North of England.

The survey of 40,000 voters suggested a Tory majority as large as 172 seats.