Rayner: Fear over Labour workers’ rights plans like ‘squealing’ over minimum wage

Labour’s Angela Rayner has hit back at criticism of the party’s workers’ rights plans today, arguing it is similar to the “squealing” over the minimum wage legislation brought in by Labour in 1999.

The deputy leader was responding to recent criticism by New Labour svengali Lord Peter Mandelson, who urged Sir Keir Starmer not to rush measures on employment reform.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mandelson urged that the New Deal for Working People “must not be rushed but must be done in consultation with business”.

But speaking to the Financial Times, Rayner hit back at the ex-Labour cabinet minister, who now advises firms including BP, JPMorgan and Tiktok.

She said her “message for people like Lord Mandelson” was that prior to Labour’s 1997 landslide victory “business was squealing about the minimum wage, saying that they’re all going to go out of business and it would bankrupt the country”.

Rayner added: “Well it didn’t, it’s endured, and it’s one of the things that across all political spectrums, [people] say was actually crucial, and it’s affected millions of workers positively.”

She urged firms to swallow their “misconceptions” and embrace her proposals, such as “fair pay agreement” in social care, ending “exploitative zero-hours contracts” and better sick pay. 

“This idea that you’re either pro business or pro the worker is for the birds,” she claimed, and described the measures Labour would enact as “more evolutions than revolution”.

“Once people can see what we’re trying to achieve, they get on board and are really happy to move with it,” Rayner stressed, while adding Labour has been “in dialogue” with firms.

Some businesses are already offering schemes beyond Labour’s proposals, she said, including on paternity leave and unfair dismissal, while unions are key backers of the plans. 

There has been some opposition to the employment reforms led by Rayner – despite Labour’s 20-point poll lead over Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party.

Confederation of British Industry (CBI) president Rupert Soames said earlier this year that the UK must avoid a “European model” of employment rights and dodge excessive regulation that risked undermining workers’ productivity, in an apparent challenge to Labour.

Speaking on Thursday, Starmer was asked if he could guarantee the package would be implemented in full, and said: “Yes. I believe deep down respect and dignity at work matters.

“It really matters that people feel respected, that they feel they have their dignity at work.

“But there is an additional reason, and that is as every good employer knows, that if you do treat people with respect and dignity at work then that increases productivity.

“That increases the growth in your business and enterprise and it is actually good for the economy.”