LEFT Labour MPs have slammed ministers for their climbdown on day one protection against unfair dismissal in the Commons.

They demanded no further retreat after the government conceded to the House of Lords over the issue, instead offering the protection to workers only after six months in a job.

As the diluted Employment Rights Bill completed its passage in the Commons on Monday night, Andy McDonald MP said: “The unelected chamber should not block mandates, and the government should not capitulate to such pressure.”

Former Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery asked minister Kate Dearden: “The new deal for working people stipulated quite clearly that employment rights from day one were sacrosanct.

“Then a manifesto pledge in 2024 said categorically to the British people that we would have day one rights for working people. Why has that changed?”

John McDonnell MP warned ministers were breaking a manifesto promise.

“Some in the House of Lords may take confidence from the government’s acceptance of this; can we send them the message that we will not in any way compromise any further on this legislation,” he said.

And former employment minister Justin Madders, sacked by PM Sir Keir Starmer in the summer reshuffle, urged the government to “show some steel.”

He told MPs: “This has to be it. This has to be the line in the sand. This Bill was a clear manifesto commitment, and it pains me that we have had to jettison part of it to get it over the line.

“The Lords cannot keep coming back because they do not like what is in this Bill. It is a promise we made to the British people, and we have to deliver on it. We have to let democracy win.”

Former deputy premier Angela Rayner, one of the architects of the Bill, also called for no further retreats while backing the “compromise” over unfair dismissal.

She said: “There is now no more time to waste. Vested interests worked with the Tories and the Lib Dems — cheered on by Reform and backed by the Greens — to resist the manifesto on which we were elected.

“Now there can be no excuses. We have a mandate for a new deal for working people, and we must and will deliver it.

“Now is not the time to blink or buckle. Let us not waste a minute more. It is time to deliver.”

And TUC general secretary Paul Nowak pleaded with the Lords to “do the right thing” and allow the Bill to become law.