Local High Peak MP helps steer landmark Employment Legislation through House of Commons

On Wednesday 12^th March 2025, Jon Pearce, Member of Parliament for High Peak, supported the Employment Rights Bill as it passed its final stages in the House of Commons. Jon Pearce MP has supported the Government’s efforts to provide a framework for the biggest change in workers’ rights in the last fifty years at every legislative stage in the House of Commons. Speaking in the Second Reading debate in October and serving on the Bill’s Public Bill Committee.

The Employment Rights Bill will update Britain’s outdated employment laws and turn the page on an economy blighted by insecurity, poor productivity and low pay.  This includes ending exploitative zero hours contracts and fire and rehire practices, establishing day one rights for paternity, parental and bereavement leave for millions of workers, and strengthening statutory sick pay.

These measures will also be beneficial for employers, helping to keep people in work, reduce recruitment costs for employers by increasing staff retention and levelling the playing field on enforcement.

With this Bill, the Government is calling a time on the Tories’ scorched earth approach to industrial relations that led to the worst strikes chaos in decades. A new partnership of cooperation between trade unions, employers and government will ensure we benefit from more cooperation and less disruption.

As the Bill was passed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government & Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner MP said “When this Government took office, we promised the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation—nothing less than a new deal for working people…

…We said we would introduce a Bill to deliver that within 100 days, and we heard from Conservative Members who said we should not; and there were those who said we could not, but we did…

…Today, this House is taking another giant step towards making work pay. Let us be clear: too many working people have had to wait for too long for change. Over a decade, wages flatlined, in-work poverty grew, and growth was strangled. We inherited a failing economy that served no one, but today a Government of working people for working people are turning the tide”[i].

Speaking about the Bill, Jon Pearce MP said “This Government is raising the floor on workplace rights to deliver a strong, fairer and brighter future for the world of work in our country. From ending fire and rehire to establishing day one rights for parental leave, this Bill will deliver reforms that puts more money in people’s pockets, whilst providing the necessary stability for businesses…

…I was honoured to serve on the Bill Committee with a fabulous team of Labour MPs who have helped steer it through the Commons. Together, we have passed a landmark piece of legislation which will help hundreds of families across High Peak…

…Whilst proving that the Labour Government will deliver for working people, I was dismayed that the Reform Party and the Conservatives tried to block by voting against all of rights every step of the way.”

• [i] Secretary of State Angela Rayner MP, House of Commons, Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates: The Official Report (12 March 2025, vol. 763, cols. 1222-23) (London: Hansard). (https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-03-12/debates/D532A0C0-8B26-4BE4-B61A-36908DB2CBA7/EmploymentRightsBill)