TUC slams Reform’s “shameless and deceptive” attempt to distract from policies which slash women’s rights

• Reform announces its ‘Women and Motherhood Protection Act’ while scrapping key protections for women and legalising discrimination. 

• Promising to keep some protections from sex discrimination, which have been in place for half a century, while scrapping the entire Equality Act and Employment Rights Act and expecting women to be grateful is “galling”, says TUC. 

• Proposal also suggests Reform wants to reduce women’s protections to equal pay for work of equal value, which have been in place for over 25 years. 

• The TUC warns Reform “can never be trusted” on women’s rights and wants “to turn the clock back”.

The TUC has today (Tuesday) branded Reform UK’s so-called Women and Motherhood Protection Act as a “shameless” attempt to distract from the party’s “sexist” policies and candidates.

Reform UK has announced it will deliver the legislation if elected, while simultaneously pledging to rip up the Equality Act – the UK’s longstanding legislation which protects all workers from discrimination – and the Employment Rights Act, which is set to deliver a swathe of new protections and rights for women. 

Most of protections Reform has promised to deliver are already in place or will be delivered by the Employment Rights Act. The union body says Reform is promising to keep some protections from sex discrimination, which have been in place for half a century, while scrapping the Equality Act and most of the Employment Rights Act. Expecting women to be grateful for these reductions in their rights is “galling”, says the TUC.  

This comes after Robert Kenyon, the Reform UK candidate in the Makerfield by-election, received criticism for derogatory and misogynistic comments about women. Reform leader Nigel Farage dismissed criticism and said it was simply “laddish pub talk”. 

Questions to answer

The TUC says Reform has “serious questions to answer” on whether they will keep the principle of equal pay for work of equal value.

Reform has said it will “preserve the principle of same pay for same work” - but has not said it will retain the right to equal pay for work of equal value.

Under the Equality Act 2010, women and men have the right to equal pay for equal work, meaning jobs that are different in nature but demand comparable levels of skill, effort, and responsibility are paid the same.

Reform can’t be trusted

The TUC says Reform can never be trusted on women’s rights. 

The Employment Rights Act – which the party has pledged to scrap – is delivering vital new rights and protections at work which benefit women including:

• Sick pay for all, paid from day one of illness: Around 4.7 million are women benefited from stronger sick pay from April. This included more than 830,000 women who got Statutory Sick Pay for the first time. These are the lowest paid women, who were previously not eligible to receive any form of sick pay at all because they did not earn enough to qualify.
• A ban on exploitative zero hours contracts: The government is set to ban exploitative zero hours contracts by giving workers a right to a contract which reflects their regular hours – as well as compensation from cancelled shifts and notice of cancellations. Zero hours contracts are particularly prevalent in sectors like care which are predominantly female. The unpredictability and insecurity make it harder for parents to plan their lives and balance caring duties with work. They also make it harder to raise issues when a boss is being abusive because of the power imbalance. This was the case in the McDonalds scandal, where workers on zero hours contracts felt they couldn’t speak up without repercussions.
• Third party harassment protections: Employers will have a duty to protect their staff from protection from harassment from customers, punters and patients from October. The changes come as retailers and unions have warned about significant levels of harassment in shops up and down the country. Nigel Farage dismissed the new protections as a ‘ban on banter’, which the TUC called insulting.

The legislation will also deliver stronger flexible working rights, helping women balance caring responsibilities with work – as well as stronger parental leave rights for dads which benefit mums too. It is also delivering important improvements in security at work for mums, including new stronger protections against dismissal and redundancy during pregnancy and for new mums as they return to work. 

Women’s organisations and unions have hailed the legislation as a significant step forward for women at work. 

The TUC also points out that the Equality Act, while protecting women on the basis of sex, protects all workers from other forms of discrimination which women often experience, like discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, religion, sexual orientation, age, race and disability.

Reform wants to torch Britain’s established legal framework which has protected women – and all working people – for a decade and a half.

The union body says Reform has adopted many anti-family policies. The party has pledged to reintroduce the two-child benefit cap, which lifted millions of kids out of poverty.

Reform has also vowed to repeal the Renters’ Rights Act, which ensures more security of tenancy for renting families – and outlaws discrimination because a would-be renter has children.

TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:

"Let’s call this out for what it is – a smokescreen for slashing women’s rights and making life harder for families. It’s shameless and deceptive. 

“If Reform was really on the side of women, the party wouldn’t have pledged to rip up the Equality Act, effectively legalising discrimination.

“They wouldn’t have vowed to repeal new rights being introduced by the Employment Rights Act, like protection from harassment. 

“And they wouldn’t have shrugged off blatant misogyny from their own candidate as just laddish banter.

“Equating women’s success with motherhood is patronising, antiquated and plain wrong. 

“All women – whether mums or not – are at risk from a Reform government that wants to turn the clock back. The party can never be trusted on women’s rights.”

Commenting on Reform’s specific proposals, Paul added: 

“Reform has serious questions to answer on whether they will keep the principle of equal pay for equal value work. 

“It is galling and offensive to ask women to be grateful for commitments to keep protections that have been around for half a century, while scrapping two huge pieces of legislation which enshrine recent hard-won rights.”  

ENDS