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Even prior to the resignation of Angela Rayner's Labour's strongest female MP and deputy leader of the party, there were rumours of the watering down of the legislation she championed on workers’ rights, which of course includes worker's rights to a safe and healthy working environment.
ith the new cabinet and a new deputy leader, albeit one Lucy Powell a supporter of Angela's and supported by the Trade Unions in Labour for Angela's position; will the pressure to water down the Bill continue?

Further, with Labour now becoming enthralled and financially supported by big business (see NHS Privatisation News Archive), the government is now firmly in the hands of the business lobby who as per usual, see any regulations and indeed Health & Safety laws including those aligned to worker's rights in the form of healthy and safe working places; as being 'red tape' and costing them millions in profits, the focus is once again on cutting such 'red tape'. Labour have stated they are committed to removing anything which the business lobby considers to be a constraint on business, productivity, and profits!

Certainly, this is the threat and danger to worker's health & safety and rights, felt by many within the Trade Unions affiliated to Labour.
Perhaps it is worthwhile looking back at the history behind this legislation and the huge part, indeed the major part played by Angela in getting it through to the statute books; well almost.

Speaking to the TUC Congress in Liverpool in 2023, Angela Rayner spoke from the heart, following this introduction by Paul Novak General Secretary of the TUC:
“Labour’s transformative New Deal for Working People stands in stark contrast to the Tories’ dire record on workers’ rights and pay. The Conservatives have presided over an explosion in insecure work and the longest pay squeeze in modern history. And they are now launching a full-scale attack on the right to strike.

The country desperately needs a fresh start. British voters across the political spectrum want more security and fairer treatment at work. Make no mistake. Implementing the New Deal would be the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation.
 
Unfair dismissal protection from day one, a ban on zero hours contracts, greater trade union access to workplaces and fair pay agreements, starting in social care, to get pay rising– these are just some of the policies Labour are promising if elected, with an employment bill in its first 100 days.
It’s time for change – and Angela has set out clearly and passionately how a Labour government would deliver that change.”
The full news item on this was first covered by Unionsafety in September 2023, but it is worth once again to take note of her speech to that year's TUC Congress in which she pledged her full support for worker's rights and, by extension, their safety at work.

It must not be forgotten that legislation on one issue often has an effect upon legislation in another; this being worker's rights of which health & safety legislation is key to those rights and vice versa. The loss of one set of laws can drastically affect other laws dealing with the same issues, but from another angle.

Here is her complete speech to the TUC Congress 2023:

 
One year later, and Angela Rayner spoke as Deputy Leader at Labour's Annual Conference in Liverpool, with the same sincerity and power she has always been known for, even before becoming an MP, as her journey through the Trade Unions showed.

You can read the 2023 and 2024 articles as reported by Unionsafety here:
Angela Rayner Tells TUC Congress Of Labour's Worker's Rights Pledge
Angela Raynor Speaks At Labour Party Conference 2024

 

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