Employment Rights Bill

Baroness Bray of Coln Excerpts

2nd reading
Thursday 27th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bray of Coln (Con)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy. I congratulate our four new colleagues who made such excellent maiden speeches today: the noble Lord, Lord Young, the noble Baronesses, Lady Cash and Lady Gray, and my friend, the noble Baroness, Lady Berger.

I am delighted to participate in this important debate on the Employment Rights Bill, which proposes radical and potentially rather damaging changes to our employment laws. It was only a couple of months ago that some of us here today were engaged in a debate on the Budget proposal to raise the cost of national insurance contributions paid by employers and its likely lethal effect on employment prospects.

Today’s debate on the Employment Rights Bill allows us to consider the potential damage the Bill will also do to job availability. Essentially, when more legal duties are piled on to employers, the additional cost of carrying them out leads inevitably to fewer jobs being created. That old saying about the road being paved with good intentions springs to mind—if we can call them “good”.

I start with one of the Bill’s most controversial aspects: the increased powers for trade unions, which will make it easier for them to organise within businesses and exert more pressure on employers, and will loosen current rules for calling strikes. But, if businesses can be brought to a standstill more easily by trade union activity, productivity and investment will suffer and jobs will again be at risk.

Furthermore, the Bill opens the floodgates to more legal challenges in the workplace. While legal recourse is clearly important in cases of genuine mistreatment, this Bill encourages excessive litigation. Companies will be required to overhaul employment contracts, provide new benefits and meet new, rigid compliance standards. For some, this may be an inconvenience. For others, it could mean the difference between survival and closure.

A new fair work agency is to be set up to help enforce the new statutory rights. It will have the right to enter homes as well as offices to examine documents which it can demand to see—and, if necessary, to seize electronic devices used to store information. It will also be empowered to bring employment tribunal proceedings against an employer even if the employee is unable or unwilling to do so themselves. I would say that the big state has just got bigger.

The Bill’s proposals for flexible working contracts and zero-hour arrangements are equally unworkable. While flexible hours are essential for some workers and, where possible, should be agreed, the Bill’s proposals go too far in restricting how businesses can structure and restructure their workforce where necessary. They must have the flexibility to respond to demand, which, as we all know, can go up and down. This Bill introduces rigid rules on flexible contracts, making them an entitlement from day 1 in employment, if wanted. If an employer needs to change the contracted hours for any business reason, the onus is on them to make the case.

Finally, I am deeply concerned about Clause 20 and its potentially chilling effect on free speech. Pubs, shops and other customer-facing businesses may be forced to limit what can be said by customers on their premises to avoid offending staff working there. This includes overheard, not just direct, conversations. Issues such as religion, age, race or perhaps a woman defending women’s sex-based rights, plus myriad other subjects, could all be banned because employers will need to prove that they have taken all reasonable steps to prevent what would be seen as harassment by third parties or would otherwise be held liable. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has already expressed its misgivings. So should we all, loudly.

The final question has to be: instead of making it harder to run a business, with the consequence of fewer jobs on offer, why are the Government not working with businesses and employees to find practical solutions to balance workers’ rights with economic progress and growth?