Starmer attacks Greens, saying vote for Labour rivals puts new workers’ rights at risk
Keir Starmer has used a series of new workers rights that come into force on Monday to attack the Green party, saying a vote for Labour’s rivals puts such progress on sick pay, parental leave and zero-hours contracts at risk,The prime minister also took a swipe at business figures and opponents of what he described as the biggest strengthening of workers’ rights in a generation, dismissing “vested interests” who had warned against them,However, in a sign of how he views the threat from the populism of Zack Polanski’s Greens and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the run-up to local elections in May, Starmer said that having “a serious, credible economic strategy” set Labour apart from others,“No other party offers both the economic credibility and the political will to do this,” he wrote in an article for the Guardian,“A vote for any other party puts that progress at risk – whether through choices that would take us backwards, or approaches that simply don’t stand up to the realities of governing.
”Measures that come into force on Monday include the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, a key demand of child poverty campaigners and Labour MPs,Starmer described the move as one of the proudest moments of his government,Other measures coming into force on Monday include a 4,8% increase in the state pension to £241,30 a week and a 2.
3% rise in universal credit standard allowance,Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, statutory sick pay becomes a right from day one of becoming ill,Workers will also become entitled to paternity and unpaid parental leave from the first day of employment,Labour is eager to brandish the measures as significant achievements as it braces itself for potentially heavy losses in English council and mayoral elections on 7 May amid challenges from Reform on the right and the Greens on the left,There are also elections in Scotland and Wales to their national parliaments.
While Labour has been concerned about Reform since the general election, it has also increasingly been turning its sights on the Green party since the latter won the previously safe Labour stronghold of Gorton and Denton.The latest YouGov polling on Westminster voting intention had the Greens in joint second place, behind Reform.Polling released on Sunday by the former Tory treasurer Michael Ashcroft indicated a three-way split between the Greens, Conservatives and Reform.Each were on 21%, with Labour on 17%.A spokesperson for the Green party responded to Starmer’s comments by saying it was now the party of the working class.
“This is desperate from our caretaker prime minister, who woke up to a poll this morning showing Labour in fourth place and the Greens in first.“The truth is that Labour had to be dragged into giving new workers rights which were watered down after corporate lobbying worked on them.The disgraceful two-child cap was only ended after Starmer was finally dragged into it by pressure from Green MPs and anti-poverty campaigners.”Starmer’s comments appear to affirm a recent pivot to the left, amid pressure from potential leadership contenders including Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham.“At every stage, we faced those same voices of opposition,” the prime minister wrote of the measures, which had been met with resistance from some business leaders.
That opposition had focused on so-called “day one rights”, which give more power to workers to claim unfair dismissal and request flexible working.Starmer said: “They warned of costs, of disruptions, and said the time was not right.But once again, we made a different choice.We chose working people.“Nothing Labour has achieved came easily.
Every success was hard fought and hard won against the pull of vested interests,And each time, those warnings were proven wrong,”The prime minister presented the introduction of a series of measures in the tradition of the Blair government’s introduction of the minimum wage 27 years ago this week,At the same time, Starmer’s leadership has also continued to face trenchant criticism on the left from Unite, traditionally one of Labour’s largest trade union backers,Its general secretary, Sharon Graham, has described the Employment Rights Act as “a shell of its former self”.
Last month, the union significantly cut membership fees to Labour, mainly over the Birmingham bin strike.The scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, which was was introduced in the 2015 budget by the then Conservative chancellor, George Osborne, was criticised by the Tories, who said it would cost billions and “reward worklessness”.The party published what it said was analysis showing that at least £1bn extra every year would go to 186,000 workless households, with a family of two unemployed adults and three children standing to receive a £6,400 income increase.It added that the gains were heavily concentrated in a handful of cities, with Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford and Glasgow to receive more than £200m more annually.“While working people struggle with rising fuel costs and food prices, Keir Starmer is giving another handout to those on benefits,” said the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch.
Labour accused the Tories of issuing “bogus numbers” by using a family with two disabled adults as a case study and pretending they were unemployed,Both adults were listed as receiving the limited capability for work-related activity element of universal credit, meaning they had a disability or health condition limiting their ability to work,
Starmer attacks Greens, saying vote for Labour rivals puts new workers’ rights at risk
Keir Starmer has used a series of new workers rights that come into force on Monday to attack the Green party, saying a vote for Labour’s rivals puts such progress on sick pay, parental leave and zero-hours contracts at risk.The prime minister also took a swipe at business figures and opponents of what he described as the biggest strengthening of workers’ rights in a generation, dismissing “vested interests” who had warned against them.However, in a sign of how he views the threat from the populism of Zack Polanski’s Greens and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the run-up to local elections in May, Starmer said that having “a serious, credible economic strategy” set Labour apart from others.“No other party offers both the economic credibility and the political will to do this,” he wrote in an article for the Guardian.“A vote for any other party puts that progress at risk – whether through choices that would take us backwards, or approaches that simply don’t stand up to the realities of governing
Unions privately voice misgivings over BMA pay demands and doctors’ strikes
Trade unions have privately expressed qualms about the forthcoming doctors’ strikes in England, expressing frustration at the conduct of the talks and the demands of the British Medical Association.The BMA is pushing for a pay rise higher than the 3.5% offered to doctors by the government, with strikes planned in England next week.However, more than a million NHS staff who are not doctors – including nurses, physiotherapists, midwives, healthcare assistants, ambulance workers and hospital porters – are due to receive an even lower pay rise of 3.3%, set via the Agenda for Change (AfC) system
Sadiq Khan protection officers ‘leave bag with guns and Taser on south London street’
Armed police officers protecting the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, allegedly left a bag containing guns and a Taser on the street which was discovered by a member of the public.The Metropolitan police said on Friday it was investigating the incident and five officers had been removed from frontline duties while inquiries were being carried out.The bag was found on a kerbside in south London at about 9.40pm on Tuesday. A Met spokesperson said: “We have made a referral to the Met’s directorate of professional standards following an incident which took place on Tuesday 31 March
Relationship with Trump may be beyond repair, Keir Starmer told
Keir Starmer has been warned his relationship with Donald Trump may be beyond repair after the US president derided the prime minister for consulting his team about military decisions, in a mocking impersonation.In a new low for UK-US relations, Trump appeared to imitate Starmer in a weak voice during an Easter lunch speech at the White House, and said the UK was “not our best” ally.The episode is Trump’s latest broadside at Starmer and the UK’s “old” aircraft carriers after the prime minister declined to let the US use British military bases for its initial strikes on Iran.Following the latest attack on Starmer, diplomatic and political figures said he was right to brush off the criticism but added that the relationship was very damaged and he would need to redouble efforts to built international relations elsewhere.The US president said the UK “should be our best” ally but had not been during the Iran war, accusing Starmer of prevaricating over sending aircraft carriers
Starmer’s cost of living adviser urges him to extend fuel duty cut in light of Iran war
A cut to fuel duty should be extended to reflect the rise in petrol prices, the government’s cost of living champion has said.Richard Walker, the executive chair of the supermarket chain Iceland, urged Keir Starmer not to raise the levy in September, in light of the conflict in the Middle East.The strait of Hormuz, a crucial trading artery between the Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, has been blockaded since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran at the end of February.A fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait, and its closure has sent global prices soaring, putting pressure on the world economy.Fuel duty is frozen until September, when the government will review any rise
Labour challenges Farage over cost of private jet trip to Maldives
Labour has queried Nigel Farage’s claim that a return trip to the Maldives on a private jet linked to a billionaire donor cost as little as £25,000 as the Reform leader attempted to reach the Chagos Islands.Farage initially recorded his two-day trip to the Maldives as costing £12,500 funded by Thailand-based Reform megadonor Christopher Harborne, before upgrading this to £25,000 in the latest register of interests.The Guardian reported that ownership of the private jet was linked to Harborne, who has given the party more than £12m.However, Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour party, wrote to Farage on Thursday arguing that chartering a private jet of a similar size would cost many times more than the sum declared.“According to publicly available flight logs, this was an 11,000-mile round trip, lasting just over 23 hours, using a model of plane that is currently advertised on multiple private jet websites as costing at least $11,500 (£8,500) per hour to charter,” she said
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