LABOUR confirmed today that it would implement in full the package of workers’ rights negotiated with trade unions.

Following a make-or-break meeting between Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and union leaders on Tuesday, a spokesman said today that consultation with business on the reforms would only focus on “implementation” and not on the policies themselves.

They will include all those agreed by the party’s national policy forum last July, he confirmed.

The policy forum document, which was not accepted by Unite at the time, itself represented a dilution of the original new deal for workers launched by Labour in 2021. 

There are now loopholes on plans to end abuses such as zero-hour contracts and fire-and-rehire, while pledges to introduce sectoral collective bargaining across the board have been abandoned — it will now only apply to social care.

There had been widespread fears of further watering-down to appease business interests.

Left campaign organisation Momentum congratulated “Labour's affiliated trade unions on resisting the latest attempted dilution of the new deal for working people.

“However, it remains the case that its current iteration falls well short of the original vision laid out in 2021. Policies like day-one worker rights, economy-wide collective bargaining, a single status for all workers and increasing sick pay are more needed than ever in the insecure world of work created by the Tories.”

Urging the  full implementation of the original plans, Momentum pointed out that the proposals enjoy overwhelming public support, according to TUC polling.