Employment Rights Bill Report Stage: New Clause 87

MPs voted on 11 March 2025 on New Clause 87, a Conservative amendment to the Employment Rights Bill at Report Stage. The clause would have required the Secretary of State to have regard to economic growth and the international competitiveness of the UK economy when making regulations under Parts 1 and 2 of the Bill. The amendment was defeated by 340 votes to 106. The Bill hands ministers broad powers to implement key provisions, including guaranteed hours for zero and low-hours workers, the extension of those provisions to agency workers, and the new unfair dismissal framework, through secondary legislation (regulations made after the Bill passes, with less parliamentary scrutiny than primary law). Supporters of New Clause 87 argued this made a growth-and-competitiveness requirement especially necessary, given that Parliament would have limited opportunity to scrutinise the details later. Opponents characterised it as a wrecking amendment intended to constrain the government's ability to deliver the workers' rights protections at the heart of the Bill. In practical terms, had the clause passed, any minister drafting those regulations would have been legally required to weigh economic growth and competitiveness objectives before finalising the rules. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 293 Labour MPs and 31 Labour and Co-operative MPs voted against, as did the Greens, Plaid Cymru, and the Social Democratic and Labour Party. All 94 voting Conservatives supported the clause, joined by all six voting Reform UK MPs and three Democratic Unionist Party MPs. Seven independents voted no, while three voted aye. There were no Conservative MPs recorded voting against the amendment, and no Labour MPs recorded voting for it.