Labour to engineer workers’ rights vote

Labour is to force a Commons vote this week to ensure worker rights are protected after Brexit. Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer fears the Tories plan to water down paid holidays and EU rules on equal wages.

He will challenge Theresa May’s controversial Withdrawal Bill, which will transfer all EU laws into British ones when we leave Europe on March 29, 2019.

The Prime Minister wants to use so-called Henry VIII powers to allow ministers to amend legislation without the approval of Parliament.

Mrs May is on record as objecting to the EU social chapter which guarantees maternity pay and stops anyone being forced to work more than 48 hours a week.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said it should be easier for bosses to fire staff, and in 2012 Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said workplace rights should be scrapped for small companies.

In 2014 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: “The weight of EU employment regulation is back-breaking.”

Mr Starmer will demand that assurances are added to the Bill so that the same security workers enjoy now will continue after Brexit.

He told Brexit Countdown: “Taking back control did not mean handing sweeping new powers to ministers to tear up worker rights.

“The bill must include a guarantee the UK will not lag behind Europe in these areas.”

And TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady added: “The bill must be rewritten.

“The Brexit deal must guarantee British workers will never be left with weaker rights than European workers.”

RIGHTS AT RISK A British worker