Ministers ditch manifesto pledge for job protection from day one

TUC accepts change to employee rights bill after talks with industry

- Jessica Elgot Richard Partington

The flagship Labour policy that would have given workers the right to claim unfair dismissal after one day on the job is to be ditched by the government in favour of a six-month threshold.

In a U-turn constituting a direct breach of Labour's manifesto, the government said it had brokered a deal between six of the country's largest business groups and trade union bosses to shake up its plan for the biggest upgrade in employment rights for a generation.

The move comes after the business secretary, Peter Kyle, told the CBI conference this week that he would listen to concerns about the effects of the law on hiring. A union source told the Guardian: "They've capitulated and there may be more to come."

The TUC said it was prepared to accept the compromise arrangement, after days of negotiation. "The absolute priority now is to get these rights - like day-one sick pay - on the statute book so that working people can start benefiting from them from next April," said its general secretary, Paul Nowak.

A TUC source said there was a view that the six-month threshold was more workable than the more loosely defined nine-month probation period, which will be scrapped.

But MPs are likely to be unnerved by the breach of the manifesto, which promised "day one" protection against unfair dismissal, while unions descended into infighting over the 11th-hour change.

The reversal adds to pressure on ministers already battling claims that Rachel Reeves's autumn budget broke Labour's pre-election promises not to raise taxes on working people.

Kyle has replaced Jonathan Reynolds as business secretary, the latter having steered through the legislation with the former deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner.