Health & Safety, Working Time Regulations and employment rights are all coming under attack
The power struggle within the Tory Party has long term implications for working people. There are individuals like Jacob Rees Mogg and Suella Braverman, who are in groups such as in the European Reform Group (ERG), lobbying for major changes in the way the country is run. Changes that include de-regulation.
That means removing many employers from the responsibilities of following certain laws and regulations. It is bad enough now with our rivers being used to dump sewerage, workers being hurt at work because managers are not carrying out risk assessments or providing proper protective equipment. One of the few things Liz Truss did in her short reign was to push through the EU Laws (Revocation) Bill which will exempt bosses with up to 500 staff (later to 1000) from business regulations and EU laws.
So Health & Safety, Working Time Regulations and employment rights are all coming under attack from next year despite assurances from Tory ministers that we are all safe in their hands. They announced it as a step towards reducing business regulations. Could that include planning applications? Any other plans to find a way around locally elected councils? Who knows? We can only look at what they have said and done in the recent leadership battles and it doesn’t look very promising.
On top of that they are looking at further cuts in public spending. This will affect jobs in councils,education and NHS as well as further impacting on public services.
Another step in the direction towards privatisation and feathering the nest of their pals while ignoring the damage done to ordinary folk. So if you think politics is boring and politicians are all the same look a bit closer, scratch the surface and see exactly what we all need to do to stop this happening.
Paul Holleran
