MAY: I’LL BOOST RIGHTS FOR THE WORKER
Family friendly policies pledge
THERESA May is today promising a revolutionary vote-winning package of workers’ rights
They include giving employees the right to take extended leave to care for sick relatives while keeping their jobs. The Prime Minister’s plans would
be the greatest extension of employee protections ever introduced by a Conservative government.
The proposals also include a legal right for parents to take time off if they suffer the tragedy of losing a child.
The package, if she wins the General Election on June 8, underlines Mrs May’s determination to strike deep into traditional Labour territory.
She will characterise it as keeping her promise when she became Prime Minister to ensure prosperity is more fairly shared by ordinary families.
She is promising to maintain EU-guaranteed worker rights as well as offering new ones.
There is also a new commitment on National Living Wage rises and steps to prevent a repeat of Sir Philip Green’s BHS pensions scandal.
Mrs May publishes the deal on the eve of tomorrow’s launch of Labour’s manifesto and ahead of the Conservatives’ own programme for government, which is also due this week.
Opinion polls yesterday showed Mrs May maintains her huge lead over Labour with an Opinium survey putting the Tories on 47 per cent and Labour on 32.
One expert forecast that she could out-do former prime minister Margaret Thatcher at her peak by securing a Commons majority as big as 172, up from the 17 she inherited from David Cameron last summer and the largest Tory advantage since the 1930s.
The prediction by Professor John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, was based on a poll by Lord Ashcroft.
Lady Thatcher secured a 144-seat majority in 1983 after winning the Falklands War. Tony Blair’s 1997 landslide gave Labour a 179-seat majority.
Visiting a training facility in southeast England, Mrs May is expected to declare: “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.
“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.
Protected
“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.”
Currently workers have the right to time off for family emergencies such as illness or childcare problems but not to deal with longer-term concerns such as frail relatives.
Mrs May also proposes high quality “returnships” to ease people back into work after, for example having children or caring for family.
People suffering from fluctuating mental health conditions such as depression would be protected from discrimination under reforms to the Equalities Act, which currently covers only constant conditions.
The National Living Wage would continue to rise in line with median earnings until 2022, two years beyond the 2020 promised earlier.
Mrs May will also promise to enact recommendations due this summer from a review of modern employment practices, including the insecure freelance “gig” economy.
Workers’ rights to unpaid leave for training would be extended.
In moves that could give employees more power in their companies, listed firms would have to create “stakeholder advisory panels”, make an existing non-executive director an employee representative or directly appoint a worker representative to their board. The Government would also consult over giving workers similar rights to those of shareholders regarding information about companies.
The Tories promise new powers for the pensions watchdog and fund trustees to guard against “irresponsible” behaviour by company bosses, including letting the regulator inspect takeovers that might impact on pensions.
Yesterday the PM also promised a revival of Lady Thatcher’s home ownership revolution.
In another pitch for Labour votes, Mrs May said she would change the law to help councils and housing associations build hundreds of thousands of new properties for rent.
A proportion would be required to be offered for sale to tenants after 10 to 15 years under Lady Thatcher’s Right to Buy scheme.
IN HER first speech as Prime Minister Theresa May stood outside Number 10 and spoke of the difficulties faced by the millions of families who find themselves “just about managing”. She told them: “We will do everything we can to give you more control over your lives. When we take the big calls, we’ll think not of the powerful, but you.”
Her Christian faith and the values she acquired as a vicar’s daughter have long informed her politics, encouraging her to see the powers of the state as a force for good that can be used to help those who are in need, vulnerable or underprivileged.
On this she has been admirably consistent. Her famous speech in which she referred to the Tories as “the nasty party” and spoke of the need for the Conservative Party to represent people from all walks of life was made almost 15 years ago. Nevertheless, this aspect of her political philosophy has remained enormously important throughout.
Now Mrs May has put together a new plan for protecting workers’ rights that is unprecedented in her party’s history. Policies such as the right to take leave to care for a family member or if a child dies show that she is a compassionate politician who truly cares about helping people.
One minister has likened Mrs May to Ronseal which, as the slogan has it, “Does exactly what it says on the tin”. When it comes to standing up for struggling workers this comparison is certainly justified.