UK to introduce new law this autumn to strengthen workers' rights

September 01, 2024
UK to introduce new law this autumn to strengthen workers' rights
  • UK plans autumn law to enhance workers' rights

The British Labour Party announced on Saturday that it will put out the most "packed legislative agenda" for a new government in decades, which included measures to fortify job rights and tenant protection in the autumn.

The Leader of the House of Commons, Lucy Powell, stated that the government will present legislation in the coming months that aims to shift power from employers to workers and give renters the ability to contest arbitrary rent hikes. Parliament is scheduled to reconvene on Monday after its summer break.

The Employment Rights Bill will restrict fire and rehire methods and criminalise zero-hour contracts, which affect around 1 million workers in Britain who have employment contracts that do not set a minimum amount of hours they can work and only pay for the hours they are on shift.

The Renters' Rights Bill forbids landlord discrimination against families with children and eliminates the possibility of arbitrary evictions.

The administration also intends to enact laws strengthening the function of the nation's official watchdog over the budget and progressively renationalising the passenger rail network within the next week.
Lawmakers will get their first chance to discuss the British Energy Bill, which would create a publicly traded firm with 8.3 billion pounds ($10.89 billion) in backing to co-invest in green technologies, on Thursday in the House of Commons.
"This new Labour Government is full of energy, full of ideas and full of drive to deliver our mandate for change," Powell stated. "That's why we've announced a packed legislative agenda."
The administration also intends to draft laws in the coming months to strengthen restrictions on politicians' second occupations and hold water bosses personally liable forlawbreaking if their companies repeatedly flout sewage regulations.