Earlier this week, the Employment Rights Bill returned to the Commons to commence a review of Lords amendments from MPs, in what is commonly referred to as ‘ping-pong’.
Those following the Bill will have been aware of the slate of non-government amendments made to the Bill during its passage in the Lords which sought to significantly alter the Bill and wipe out many of the Bill’s proposals, including the provisions on ending exploitative zero-hours contracts and the practice of fire and rehire. You can read some of our coverage on these amendments here.
The past few weeks have seen mounting pressure from trade unions to resist any further backsliding on the Bill, which required fully reversing changes to the Bill introduced by Tory and Lib Dem peers. Though it was always expected that the Governmentt would reject these changes, there was some concern following a recent cabinet reshuffle that saw the three Ministers attached to the Bill (Justin Madders, Angela Rayner and Jonathan Reynolds) out of their posts.
Justin Madders, who previously held a junior Ministerial position for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets, intervened in the debate on Monday saying:
Passing this Bill is not, of course, the end of the matter. There is so much more that needs to be done outside the Bill, particularly on finally ending the industrial-scale exploitation that is bogus self-employment. […]
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