Labour planning ‘right to switch off’ for workers if it wins general election

Labour is planning a “right to switch off” for workers if the party wins power at the next general election, according to reports.

The scheme, spearheaded by Angela Rayner, the deputy party leader, would mean that bosses would be restricted from contacting workers outside of hours by phone or email.

Rayner, who is also the party’s shadow secretary of state for the future of work, told the Financial Times that “constant emails and calls outside of work should not be the norm and is harming work-life balance for many”.

“We will look at how to implement this in practice, learning from countries where it has been introduced successfully,” she added.

The proposal appears similar to legislation in France that was enacted in 2017 and designed to combat an “always-on” work culture that left employees deluged with messages and emails during evenings and at weekends.

The emergence of the policy is one of many that will form part of Labour’s “new deal for working people” and will be in the party’s general election manifesto, the FT reports.

Also part of the employment reforms would be a ban on controversial zero-hours contracts by a future Labour government.

Speaking prior to her address to the Scottish TUC conference in Dundee in April, Rayner said the Tories and Scottish National party had “failed to deliver the crackdown they promised” and that Labour would “ban zero-hours contracts, safeguard rights at work and raise standards for all”.

Other policies include getting rid of the practice of “fire and rehire”, where employees are let go and then re-employed on worse pay and employment terms.

Labour are significantly ahead of Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party in the polls, with a general election expected in 2024. The party had a successful set of local elections which saw it become the largest party in local government as the Tories lost nearly 1,000 councillors.

Despite a commanding lead for Labour in recent polls, leader Keir Starmer is to tell his party on Saturday that Labour will have to offer voters a radical vision that “goes further and deeper” than Tony Blair’s government.

In the speech he will say that they face a more significant challenge than when Labour came to power in 1997 because of the litany of problems caused by 13 years of Tory rule.