General Election 2019: Where Do The Parties Stand On Worker's Rights?

By Navjyot Lehl

With less than 2 weeks until polling day, a lot has happened in the campaign so far— the leaders of each political party have battled it out in the TV debates, launched their manifestos across the country and the results from the latest MRP polling have shown a Conservative majority.

The UK’s leading psephologist Sir John Curtice believes that TV debates are crucial for parties to turn their proposals into a narrative that the public understand, as opposed to the broad detail of their manifestos. It’s safe to say that none of the debates have shown the leaders in their best light. With Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party refusing to apologise for the party’s troubling position on antisemitism, Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, torn apart in scathing attacks from the Question Time audience and Boris Johnson’s humiliation during the channel 4 climate debate. How well has this played out in the polls?

This week showed the results of the widely anticipated MRP poll conducted by YouGov, which showed a comfortable majority for the Conservative party gaining around 68 seats, Labour losing 51 seats and a mere gain for the Lib Dems just winning one extra MP.  MRP polling is different to other polls because it takes into account a much larger pool of voters approximately 100,000, on a seat by seat basis. More data means a better idea of how the electorate will vote.  But of course, the volatility of British politics and the unpredictability of voter turnout will mean anything could change in the next twelve days.

All political parties have now released their manifestos. With particular focus on worker’s rights, Labour have said they would bring in the real living wage of at least £10 p/h for all workers, full commitment to equal rights and a pledge to stop exploitation by ending zero-hours contracts and strengthening trade union rights.

In comparison the Conservative manifesto looks at strengthening the current workforce, with £3bn national skills fund for training workers, the right to request a more predictable contract and full consumer and environment rights for workers.

The Liberal Democrats position on worker’s right is ambitious with the aim to increase wages for all workers, replace zero hour contracts for a ‘right to request’ a stable contract but no commitment to the £10 minimum wage. Whether they can actually implement their pledges once in government is another question. Analysis from Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies provides a brilliant overview on what the manifestos mean for the years ahead.

Campaigns tend to be generally very inward looking but this week will see more focus on foreign and security affairs, with the upcoming NATO summit hosted in London, which will see Donald Trump undoubtedly grabbing the headlines.  But a far bigger challenge for the leaders of each political party awaits— how they see the future of Britain’s global position post Brexit.