Labour’s ‘right to switch off ’ a danger to UK prosperity

LONG ago, work and home were wholly separate. Millions toiled in factories or trooped into offices equipped with telephones, typewriters, adding machines and similar equipment.

It would have been difficult to have any other arrangement. Right up into the 1970s, a telephone at home was an expensive privilege.

Millions of women stayed at home as full-time mothers. There was much to be said for this old system, but it has gone and will not come back.

Since the Covid crisis, working from home has become far more widespread. The inevitable price is that the demands of the office can and do sometimes invade our homes in the evenings and at weekends.

In fact, it is usually more senior and privileged employees who find themselves working at home, as part of a recognised trade-off between promotion and added responsibility.

The Labour Party’s embrace of a socalled ‘right to switch off’ may be appealing, but it is irresponsible and dangerous to prosperity. The idea of a ‘right to disconnect’ is spreading across Europe. Now Labour’s Deputy Leader, Angela Rayner, seems inclined to rush ahead with some such law. Have she or Sir Keir Starmer thought about this?

A legal right to cut off contact means the employee has no idea how important the call or message might be. In global commerce, crises cannot be restricted to the hours of nine to five.

Businesses in Asia, our toughest competitors, would never submit to such rules. What if it led to British firms losing urgent contracts? What good is a superb work-life balance if there is no work?