Peter Kyle: We will not pit businesses against unions
Peter Kyle has said businesses can contribute to more than two dozen consultations around sweeping measures in the Employment Rights Bill to make themselves heard on extra regulatory costs as the business secretary launched a defence of union bosses’ contributions to reforms.
Speaking to an audience of business leaders at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference who have expressed their worries over stringent changes to workers’ rights, Kyle said engagement in consultations would address some of toughest measures to be included in Labour’s flagship workers’ rights reforms.
Kyle referenced the Labour manifesto stating the government would turn to businesses for advice on pushing through reforms, which are still clogged up in a parliamentary ping-pong between the Lords and the Commons.
His comments came shortly after CBI boss Rain Newton-Smith called the bill “damaging” and said it was causing firms to pull the “brakes on hiring”.
Kyle told City PM shortly after Newton-Smith’s speech: “The manifesto committed me as secretary of state to this government to listen to both sides and all sides in this, and to make sure it is not zero sum.
“I will not pit employer against employee or employee against employer.
“Regulation has to keep up, and the ability of the government to inspire and provide the foundations for growth within individual businesses and higher productivity is what we are set upon.”
“All of the conjecture that you’ve heard about what the bill will and won’t deliver is based in areas for which the consultation and implementation has not even started.
“Let’s work together, as business and government, and as employees and unions, to get it right.”
Firms have flagged their concerns over day one rights, which allow workers to sue employers for unfair dismissal from the first day in employment, and their lack of participation in the bill’s process.
Early consultations have also raised the idea of union bosses gaining access to workplaces on a weekly basis, as revealed by City PM.
Kyle said measures including day one rights, probation periods and the end of the current form of zero hours contracts were still subject to change pending 26 consultations, though business bosses have said that primary legislation would enforce some of the harshest measures and they would not be able to be changed.
Badenoch takes aim at Kyle’s comments
Speaking one hour after Kyle, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch hit out at the bill and called the changes “anti-business” and “anti-growth”.
Badenoch also said a Conservative government would repeal the bill in full, highlighting internal government analysis stating the cost of the bill to firms would be £5bn.
“If the 26 consultations were what you need to fix [the bill], then you have a real problem,” Badenoch said.
“It does not help a single unemployed person into work. It does not add a single unit of productivity. It is a pure political project.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said earlier this year that the bill would have a “net negative” effect on public finances.
Mansion tax
The fiscal watchdog is expected to take a full view of the measures at the upcoming Budget.
It will also consider tax hikes introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, which are expected to span between investment, housing and income tax threshold freezes.
Reeves is expected to increase taxes on the top three bands of council taxes, raising billions of pounds more for the Treasury.
When asked whether he knew which council tax band he was in, Kyle told reporters: “I live in a small one bedroom flat in Hove and I can’t even tell you what band I’m in. Do you know how much it’s worth?”
“You can look it up on Zoopla,” Kyle added.