The King's Speech talks Employment Rights and Equal Pay

In two key statements the King’s Speech, Labour recommitted to:

• its “new deal for working people” “to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights [Employment Rights Bill]”; and
  
  
• introducing specific race equality legislation “to enshrine the full right to equal pay in law [Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill]”

The government has published an accompanying Prime Minister’s briefing statement (the Briefing Statement) which provides further basic details of the planned draft Bills.

Employment Rights Bill

On page 21 of the Briefing Statement the government lists some of the key commitments from The Plan to Make Work Pay manifesto document saying the Bill will cover the aspects which require primary legislation to be implemented.

The basic details provided relating to the key manifesto pledges appear to be unchanged since our post-election review which was published less than two weeks ago.

Equal Pay — Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

Although the speech itself did not mention disability-related #equalpay rights, the Briefing Statement clarifies at page 78 that the specific disability-related right mentioned in the manifesto remains part of the #equal pay legislative plan.

Once the Bills themselves are published we will provide further commentary on the details of the proposals and follow its passage through Parliament.