LABOUR in government will introduce a four-day working week, John McDonnell announced yesterday as delegates backed calls for the radical move.

The shadow chancellor’s comments came after a motion tabled by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the party’s annual conference in Brighton advocating the change was passed.

The shadow chancellor announced that Labour would cut the average working week to 32 hours within a decade — and eliminate in-work poverty in its first term in government, restoring union and workplace rights, introducing collective bargaining and establishing a £10-an-hour living wage.

Addressing the hall, Mr McDonnell said: “I have always believed that we should work to live, not live to work.

“Thanks to past Labour governments — but mainly thanks to the trade-union movement — the average full-time working week fell from nearly 65 hours in the 1860s to 43 hours in the 1970s.

“As society got richer, we could spend fewer hours at work. But in recent decades progress has stalled. People in our country today work the longest average full-time hours in Europe apart from Greece and Austria.

“Since the 1980s the link between increasing productivity matched by expanding free time has been broken. It’s time to put that right.”

Mr McDonnell said that Labour in government would end the opt-out from the working-time directive — the 1998 measure that sought to stop bosses making people work longer than 48 hours a week.

Labour’s plan will also include the roll-out of sectoral collective bargaining across the country and will strengthen the power of trade unionists to negotiate working hours by requiring hours to be included in work agreements.

It was the figurehead policy in a raft of economic policies announced by Mr McDonnell, who said that Labour must fight for “freedom from drudgery, dignity, respect and a voice in the workplace.”

These policies include supporting “full trade union rights and workplace rights from day one,” introducing a real living wage of at least £10 an hour and ending universal credit.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “John McDonnell’s announcement today shows that Labour is serious about tackling the Tory work-till-you-drop approach to the British economy.

“This is a truly radical proposal that will change workers’ lives and we were pleased to pass the motion in support of the four-day week before John’s speech. It’s time to deliver the full benefits of a worker’s labour to the worker themselves.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s time for working people to share in the benefits of new technology. That’s why unions have been arguing for less time at work, more time with family and friends and decent pay for everyone.

“We welcome Labour’s commitment to move to a 32-hour week. Introducing more public holidays and enforcing safe limits on working hours is a sensible start.

“Unions already negotiate agreements on working time in many workplaces.

“With greater freedom to bargain across sectors, we can help deliver a flexible transition that meets the needs of workers and businesses across different industries.”

A Labour 4-Day Week spokesman said: “Moving to a four-day week will drastically improve the lives of people up and down the country by giving them back the time to spend with their communities, their friends, their families and their loved ones.

“This is the boldest attempt to transform and improve people’s lives in a century.”