Another drive to WFH? Labour accused of bowing to unions with pledge to 'strengthen right to flexible working'

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 12:30 EDT, 15 September 2026 | Updated: 12:36 EDT, 15 September 2026 Labour stands accused of ‘dancing to the union barons’ tune’ after giving workers even more rights over their employers.Deputy PM Louise Haigh revealed on Tuesday Labour would ‘strengthen the right to flexible working’ for employees as she stood in for Andy Burnham at the annual meeting of trade unions.Under the plans, workers would be given more powers to work from home and to demand flexible hours from their bosses.Employers would also be required to justify to workers where they had turned down flexible working requests, while line managers would be empowered to manage employees' schedules.Announcing the changes on Tuesday, Ms Haigh said: ‘I know that businesses have to make things work too. Not every job can be done from home, and not every request can be agreed.‘But every request can and should be taken seriously. So today, I'm pleased to announce that we will strengthen the right to flexible working.’ Convicted fraudster Louise Haigh revealed on Tuesday Labour would ‘strengthen the right to flexible working’ for employees as she stood in for Andy Burnham at the annual meeting of trade unions Responding to Ms Haigh's speech, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the government is 'right to recognise the importance of flexible working' Angela Rayner, a key architect of Labour's Employment Rights Act, appeared at the Trade Union Congress on Monday. Businesses are reeling under the effects of the legislation, which bestows fresh powers on trade unions to strikeShe added that if an employer wants to turn down a request, they will now have to ‘sit down with their employee, properly consider it, and explain why’.Ms Haigh stepped in to deliver the speech to the Trade Union Congress on behalf of the Prime Minister, who cancelled all engagements after his father passed away on Monday.Responding to Ms Haigh's speech, TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the government is 'right to recognise the importance of flexible working'.He added the move 'makes it harder for employers to turn down requests while giving workers a stronger voice in the process'.But it comes as businesses are reeling under the effects of Labour’s Employment Rights Act, which bestows fresh powers on trade unions to strike.In further pain for British enterprise, ministers will now strengthen the right to ‘fair consideration’ in the legislation – meaning employers must answer before employees for the decisions they have made.Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith accused Labour on Tuesday of creating a ‘shirkers’ charter’ for the public sector.He said: ‘Labour do not understand business. They have already wrapped businesses up in red tape with their Unemployment Act, and now Louise Haigh and Angela Rayner are back, they want to crank up the pressure further.‘In the private sector this is more job sapping red tape but in the public sector it will be a complete shirkers' charter.‘Labour should stop dancing to the union barons’ tune and focus on giving businesses the best possible environment to grow and create jobs.’And Reform deputy leader Richard Tice branded Labour’s move ‘yet more meddling from an economically illiterate government determined to make it as difficult as possible to run a business’.He said: ‘If Labour really wants stronger economic growth, it should stop treating employers as the enemy and start trusting them to run their businesses.’In a wide-ranging speech, Ms Haigh also urged Labour to ‘heed the warnings’ of AI developers claiming the technology could cause the extinction of the human race.She said: ‘We must heed the warnings of those who are at the forefront of developing this technology, there are clearly huge risks to our national security and society if the right guardrails are not put in place.‘This is an issue that goes beyond our borders, and we are ready to work with our international partners to make sure we get this right.’This comes as a wave of AI researchers have broken cover in recent weeks to expose the dangers posed by the technology.Silicon Valley’s OpenAI on Monday became the first company to call on Britain to introduce strict rules on the technology.Labour committed in its manifesto to introduce binding regulation on the handful of companies developing the most powerful AI models, but ditched the plans in December.