LORDS UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY

Last month, the House of Lords gutted key parts of the new Employment Rights bill - a bill that would transform the lives of workers across the North by ending zero-hours contracts, introducing day-one rights against unfair dismissal, and delivering long-overdue protections for those in insecure work.

- DAVE PIKE

Rather than support commonsense measures, Conservative and Liberal Democrat peers backed amendments that weaken the bill, voting to scrap the outright ban on zero-hours contracts, allowing employers to carry on offering precarious work, with only a vague “right to request” guaranteed hours.

They also pushed through a six-month qualifying period before workers could claim unfair dismissal - undermining the government's promise of protection from day one.