The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has opened the door to bosses to influence Labour’s changes to workers’ rights, amid boardroom fears over jobs and growth.
In a signal the government could consider watering down the overhaul of employment rights, Kyle told business leaders at the CBI conference in London that he would hold a series of 26 consultations with companies after the bill became law.
“When we launch these consultations, please engage with it. Make your voice heard and engage with me and my department to make sure we get it right.”
With Labour under pressure to reboot the economy before the autumn budget on Wednesday, Kyle committed to ensure that businesses would not “lose” as a result of the changes, which include a ban on zero-hour contracts and day-one protections for workers against unfair dismissal.
“I will not allow it to become zero-sum, [you] give one to the other, the other loses … This has to be got right.”
Business leaders have stepped up lobbying against the workers’ rights changes, saying that employers would cut jobs. The government’s own analysis shows the changes will cost employers £5bn to implement.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, told business leaders at the CBI that Labour’s changes represented a bigger risk to companies and the economy than tax rises in Rachel Reeves’s budget on Wednesday.
She said: “It is a 330-page assault on flexible working, written in the TUC’s headquarters, designed to drag Britain back to a world where unions are calling the shots.”
Promising that a Tory government would repeal the changes, she said Kyle’s assurance to business leaders that he would listen to their concerns would mean little in practice. “If 26 consultations are what you need to fix things, then you have a really, really big problem,” she added.
Rupert Soames, the president of the CBI, said of the employment rights bill: “It’s going to be really, really damaging.”
Ministers are under pressure to implement the employment rights bill “in full” after Keir Starmer’s September reshuffle fuelled unease among unions after the resignation of Angela Rayner, who had championed the plan.
Union leaders and backbench Labour MPs have said reneging on the manifesto promise, which has large public backing, would betray voters and undermine workplace protections for millions.
Kyle told businesses they could be reassured by his presence in government. As science and technology secretary, Kyle was accused of being too close to big tech after Guardian analysis showed he had met nearly 70% more times with companies than his Conservative predecessor.
“Thats is a criticism that I happily accept and it’s one that I expect to repeat in this job,” he said.
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Kyle said he accepted business confidence had been undermined by continual speculation before Reeves’s budget on Wednesday. “I accept that some businesses have said that they are frustrated with the speculation, and that is something whenever business say to me that they want things done differently,” he said.
“I will listen to them and I’ll respect it, and I’ll give them a voice in the future decisions that we take.”
Currently going through parliament, Labour’s employment rights bill has been amended three times by Tory and Liberal Democrat peers in the Lords to accommodate key business demands.
Labour has sought to reassure bosses by suggesting it could tweak the law once it is passed, using secondary legislation, but unions fear this could lead to it being watered down.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the conference, Kyle said he would do “what it takes” to unblock parliamentary hold-ups to the bill because of the Lords amendments, before then consulting on its implementation.
“The voice of business, the voice of people who work in business, will be heard when we get down into the weeds of implementing those key parts of the employment rights bill. And yes, I’m talking about zero-hours contracts and day one rights,” he said.
