Employment Rights Bill: Second Reading

Parliament voted on 21 October 2024 to give the Employment Rights Bill its Second Reading, the first major parliamentary hurdle for a piece of legislation. The bill passed by 386 votes to 105. A Second Reading is the stage at which MPs debate the broad principles of a bill before it proceeds to detailed scrutiny in committee. The bill introduces a significant package of changes to employment law. Its central measures include removing the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims, giving zero and low-hours workers the right to request guaranteed-hours contracts, abolishing the three waiting days before Statutory Sick Pay becomes payable, and substantially expanding trade union rights, including repealing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, who moved the bill, described it as "the biggest upgrade to workers' rights in a generation" and said over 10 million workers would benefit. Conservative MPs challenged the government's own impact assessment, which estimated the measures could cost employers up to £4.5 billion a year, arguing the bill threatened small businesses and economic growth. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 359 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs voted in favour, as did all nine Scottish National Party MPs, all four Green MPs, all three Plaid Cymru MPs, and both Social Democratic and Labour Party MPs. All 95 voting Conservatives opposed the bill, as did all five voting Reform UK MPs. Eight independents voted in favour and two against. There were no notable cross-party rebellions in either direction.