It makes no sense for union leaders to cry betrayal when it will be their members who benefit from these sorely needed reforms
T
he wall of sound shouting “liar” at the chancellor is a bizarre Westminster frenzy. Stand back from the hysteria and ask this question: how can Rachel Reeves be accused of raising more money than necessary when there is still pitifully little to go round in every department at her cabinet table? It’s a weird Tory ramp that she lied about a black hole when we can see it everywhere in the real world. She could have raised more.
As the prime minister, Keir Starmer, pleads the case for all that was Labour-flavoured in the budget, the week also brought a breakthrough for Labour’s flagship employment rights bill. Shamelessly stymied by the Lords’ Tory majority, the government watered down a clause on so-called day-one rights that would have given workers protection from unfair dismissal from the day they walked into a job. That legal right will now kick in at six months – still a lot better than the current two-year wait. Business has been ferocious, urging Tory peers to hold up and reform the bill with an avalanche of hostile amendments. Compromise was necessary.
