Employment Rights Bill Report Stage: New Clause 39

Parliament passed New Clause 39 of the Employment Rights Bill on 12 March 2025, by 337 votes to 98. The clause was one of several government new clauses debated together at Report Stage, covering trade union access rights, collective redundancy consultation, annual leave records, and agency workers. The vote advances the government's broad reform of employment law. The specific package includes amendments to clause 50 of the Bill that strengthen trade union workplace access rights, streamlining the process by allowing a single Central Arbitration Committee member to make fast-track decisions on access applications. Other clauses in the group cover collective agreements, redundancy consultation protections, and obligations on employers to keep annual leave records. Together these form part of a wider legislative effort to expand trade union rights and update the industrial relations framework. Labour MPs voted unanimously in favour, joined by the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Greens, and most smaller parties. All 95 Conservative MPs who voted opposed the clause, along with all six Reform UK members who voted and one independent. There were no Conservative or Reform UK ayes. The result reflects the Employment Rights Bill's central place in the government's domestic programme and the sharp party-political divide over trade union rights and employment regulation that has run throughout the Bill's passage.