Angela Rayner to lay amendment to speed up workers’ rights bill

The former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner will lay an amendment on Wednesday to speed up the workers rights’ bill, after “considerable anger” that unelected Lords forced the watering down of day-one rights.

The amendment would mean the new shorter qualifying period is in place by early next year.

Multiple MPs have told the Guardian that while they accept the need for the change, they fear that the climbdown by the government will embolden peers and critics of the bill to push for further changes.

Rayner, who was the driving force behind the legislation in government, is understood to have accepted the compromise to remove day-one rights against unfair dismissal and replace it with a reduced qualifying period, down from two years to six months.

Trade unions have mostly accepted the compromise – arguing that the alternative of a nine-month probation period needed extra time for consultation amid worries it was unworkable. Unions also secured the lifting of the compensation cap for claims, a long-term goal.

But the decision by the business secretary, Peter Kyle, to abandon day-one rights for unfair dismissal claims is a direct breach of Labour’s manifesto.

Rayner is understood to be working on the amendment with the former employment minister Justin Madders, having met a number of MPs over the weekend who expressed frustration at the hold-ups to the bill caused by Conservative and Lib Dem peers in the Lords.

One Labour MP involved in the discussions said: “This can’t be the thin of the wedge and we won’t let it be. Not only can there be no more watering down, but there is now growing appetite on the Labour benches to go further and faster in delivering tangible rights at work that people can feel in their day-to-day lives. We’re drawing a line in the sand.”

Rayner will argue on Wednesday that because the new compromise is simply shortening the current system, it does not need consultation and thus the change must be implemented much faster.

A Labour source said there was “growing consensus” in the parliamentary Labour party that moves needed to be made to strengthen the bill and implement it faster after the “intransigence” in the Lords.

“As key architects of the bill, they know it inside out,” a source close to Rayner said. “They will be spearheading efforts to ensure the best possible package of reform is delivered and implemented to an ambitious timeline.”

The bill will return to the Commons next week, where MPs hope to vote on Rayner’s amendment that would bring forward the reduction to the qualifying period from 2027 to 2026.

It will also include measures to ensure workers on zero-hours or variable contracts are not locked out of the new rights, as well as introducing fines for employers who deny unions the right to talk with workers.

Rayner and Madders will argue that the implementation can be considerably faster because there is no need for widespread consultation and employer familiarisation for a new process – given the new offer is just a shortening of the current arrangements.

One Labour MP backing the proposals said: “Even with last week’s changes, reducing the qualifying period for protection from unfair dismissal from 24 months to six would benefit millions of working people with greater security at work. Why should they have to wait until 2027 for better protections? There’s nothing now stopping the government from delivering at pace.”

MPs behind the bill hope the proposals may ultimately be accepted by the government once the amendment is tabled under a few names, but one source said they were “confident of a groundswell of support” from MPs if needed.