Employment Rights Bill Report Stage: New Clause 30

Parliament voted on 11 March 2025 on New Clause 30, an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill at Report Stage (the stage where the full House of Commons examines a bill after committee scrutiny and can propose further changes). The amendment was defeated by 324 votes to 189. Every Labour and Labour and Co-operative MP who voted opposed the new clause, while Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, Reform UK, the Democratic Unionist Party, and most voting independents all supported it.

The Employment Rights Bill is the government's flagship legislation to expand workplace protections, covering areas including zero-hours contracts, fire and rehire practices, day-one unfair dismissal rights, flexible working, and trade union recognition. New Clause 30 was one of many amendments tabled at Report Stage seeking to add further provisions to the Bill. By voting it down, the government kept the Bill within its own defined scope and resisted changes it had not itself proposed. The wider Bill, supported by the government, is intended to benefit millions of workers across the country, including those on precarious contracts, pregnant workers, and low-paid employees receiving statutory sick pay for the first time.

The vote produced an unusual cross-party alliance in the Aye lobby, with opposition parties spanning the political spectrum from the Conservatives to Reform UK to the Greens all voting together against the government. No Labour MP voted for the new clause. This pattern reflects less a shared policy vision among the Ayes and more a tactical convergence of parties, each with different objections to or ambitions for the Bill, voting against the government's position. The broader legislative context includes parallel controversy over the government's increase in employer National Insurance contributions, which critics argue compounds the costs imposed on businesses by the Employment Rights Bill itself.