, it was positioned as a progressive proposal centred on ensuring that the average worker in Britain would be protected and treated fairly. It was named A New Deal for Working People, reminiscent of the radical agenda set by the US president, Franklin Roosevelt, in the 1930s, a platform to cement Labour’s commitment to workers’ rights and bolstering unions.
The main points of contention are around fire and rehire and zero-hours contracts, as well as the plans for legislation. Unite, Labour’s biggest union backer, has noted that the party has moved away from clearly promising to prohibit “fire and rehire”– the practice in which employers make workers redundant only to bring them back on worse terms and conditions.
Labour are meeting with unions on Tuesday to go through the document “line by line”, so something positive may yet emerge. As Labour combats a reputation for u-turning and ditching policies when it looks politically convenient, the stakes for getting everyone on side are high. contains some killer lines – including his idea for a Lovejoy reboot and the fact that Richard Burton compared him to Elizabeth Taylor just before they kissed.