Labour is doubling down on its radical left-wing agenda by paving the way for a four-day work week in the public sector — just days after hitting businesses with a crippling £25 billion tax hike.
Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, in her role as the Local Government Secretary, has sparked outrage by scrapping previous Conservative opposition to councils implementing shorter working hours with no reduction in pay.
The move has been met with cheers from trade unions and left-wing activists, who see it as a major step towards their goal of a nationwide four-day week.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has reportedly already caved to pressure from striking Tube drivers. It’s emerged that Khan’s Transport for London (TfL) boss, Nick Dent, wrote to the Aslef union this week, offering to cut Tube drivers’ workweeks to four days while maintaining their plush £70,000 salaries — all to fend off yet another set of strikes. This comes on top of a 5% pay rise earlier this year that already drained £30 million from taxpayers.
Shadow Business Secretary Kevin Hollinrake has accused Labour of bending over backwards for their union paymasters. “It’s the taxpayer footing the bill for this madness,” he said. “All we’ll get is higher costs and lower productivity.”
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg agrees and has accused Labour of “filling the pockets of its friends” while ignoring the economic damage. “Our economy is stagnating, taxes are going up, but union bosses are the ones laughing all the way to the bank,” he stated.
Labour’s generosity to its union allies comes just after Chancellor Rachel Reeves unleashed a tidal wave of tax increases on British businesses. In a deeply unpopular Budget last week, she hiked employer National Insurance contributions by £25 billion. Yet, the public sector remains conveniently shielded from the pain, with state workers set to enjoy pay rises of up to 6% next year — all funded by the already burdened private sector.
As reported in the Telegraph, Rayner’s decision to let local councils implement four-day weeks with full pay came in a letter to South Cambridgeshire District Council. The Lib Dem-led council has already trialled the policy, even though their own data showed that services suffered, with call centre wait times increasing and spending on agency staff surging by £180,000. But Labour is undeterred — they’ve now scrapped a Conservative-imposed requirement for councils to report on the effectiveness of these trials.
In a complete U-turn, the Labour Government now claims it’s up to “local voters” to judge whether their councils are delivering value for money. Rayner has insisted that Labour will stop “micromanaging” councils, even as taxpayers are forced to pick up the tab for these expensive experiments.
Labour’s soft spot for unions is becoming more evident by the day. Earlier this year, junior doctors bagged a jaw-dropping 22% pay rise after NHS strikes brought hospitals to a standstill. Now, with unions like Aslef celebrating a four-day week deal for their Tube drivers, there’s a growing concern that Labour’s policies will leave the private sector struggling to compete.
Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage slammed the plans at a Reform conference in Wales on Friday. “This four-day week nonsense is a joke,” he thundered. “It’s more pandering to the public sector at the expense of small businesses who are already on their knees.”
With Labour’s growing track record of caving to union demands, businesses and taxpayers alike are bracing for what could come next. As the public sector gets cosier deals and cushier workweeks, it’s the private sector that will be left picking up the pieces.
Photo: Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. UK Gov Licence: CC BY 2.0
