4. What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government regarding plans for a post-Brexit review of UK workers' rights? OQ56170

Llywydd, any erosion of workers' rights is unacceptable, unnecessary and damaging. A race to the bottom is not in the interests of workers, employers or the broader economy. The UK Government must uphold its promise to protect workers' rights following Brexit.

First Minister, thank you for your answer. I raised this, as you know, last week in questions, but over the course of the last week, despite initial denials, we've now seen a UK business Secretary confirm proposals for a bonfire of hard-won workers' rights and terms and conditions, despite repeated promises from the Prime Minister that this would not happen on leaving the EU. These proposals are going to leave many workers, including key workers throughout Wales, hundreds of pounds out of pocket and working longer hours for less in unsafe work. So, First Minister, will you agree with me that working people who now face the prospect of working longer for less, having their hard-won rights stripped away, could feel that they've been hoodwinked by the Conservatives and their promises of a bright new future when we left the EU?

Well, Llywydd, Huw Irranca-Davies's question last week was prescient, because he put his finger on this issue before press reports appeared of plans that are going on inside the UK Government. Here is how they were reported:

'Worker protections enshrined in EU law—including the 48-hour week—would be ripped up under plans being drawn up by the government as part of a post-Brexit overhaul of UK labour markets. 

'The package of deregulatory measures is being put together by the UK’s business department with the approval of Downing Street...select business leaders have been sounded out on the plan.'

Now, is that the Morning Star reporting what's going on, Llywydd? No, it's the Financial Times telling us what is going on inside the UK Government. It is a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace that a Government that made such promises to people that if they voted to leave the European Union their rights would be protected are, within weeks of that happening, drawing up secret plans to have a bonfire of those protections.

During this pandemic, our country has been kept going by an army of vulnerable key workers, including agency workers, whose limited rights very often stem from European Union law. Ripping up those rights is no way at all to reward them, and they will not forget—they will not forget what the Conservative Party here in Wales has in store for them: as Huw Irranca-Davies says, a future in which they're going to be asked to work longer for less. But we know what the Conservative Party thinks of them, Llywydd, don't we? The current Secretary of State in the business department was a contributor to that notorious Britannia Unchained book of less than a decade ago, when Conservative Cabinet members described British workers as

'among the worst idlers in the world'.

Now, they're able to put that ideologically charged view of the world into practice.

First Minister, the UK Government has been very clear that our high standards on protections for workers were never dependent on our membership of the EU. Now, whilst we can all be proud that the UK has one of the best records on workers' rights in the world, it is true that the Welsh Government could and should be doing more. Let's take, for example, your self-isolation support scheme, which is aimed at those on low incomes who cannot work from home and must self-isolate, and yet you are failing to make payments to Welsh people who have been told to isolate by the NHS track and trace app. So, why don't you today explain what action you are taking to ensure that workers who are notified by the NHS app to self-isolate will actually receive the £500 payment, as they are already doing in England under a Conservative UK Government? Diolch.

Llywydd, the Member's attempt to defend the UK Government's record in this matter barely amounted to being feeble. No doubt she was briefed on the fact that in the House of Commons debate on this matter yesterday, Tory backbencher after backbencher queued up to praise the advantages of what they call flexibility and a bonfire of red tape, and we know what that means. We know that in the hands of the Conservative Party that means a bonfire of the rights of workers, hard-won rights, which, of course, her party has opposed at every possible opportunity.

As far as the self-isolation support scheme is concerned, about 20,000 applications have been received, just under 10,000 have been approved. Over 6,000 people have already received payments. That totals over £3 million. The NHS app is the responsibility of the English health department. It has to help to make sure that the app that it provides is suitable for use in Wales. In the meantime, we will find a workaround so that people who are notified through the app do not lose out on self-isolation support payments here in Wales, because we will take that responsibility, even while her party, which is actually in charge of the problem that she has identified, fails to do so.

First Minister, scaremongering again. That's exactly what I expect. The answer you gave was the sort of reply I always expect from you—doom, gloom and more fear. In many areas of workers' rights, as Janet has rightly said, including maternity and holiday allowances, UK workers have enjoyed and will still enjoy far superior conditions than those mandated by the EU, and the relevant UK Government Minister has pledged that there will be no race to the bottom. So, First Minister, let's turn this around: what would you like to see the UK Government do in this area that would benefit workers in Wales? Thank you.

Well, Llywydd, the Member can attempt to dismiss people's concerns as scaremongering. I read out for her not my words, but the report that the Financial Times produced of this Government's intentions, confirmed by Kwasi Kwarteng when speaking to the House of Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee only on Tuesday of last week, when he confirmed that this review was going on inside Government. No. 10 has declined to dismiss what the Financial Times said about an end to the 48-hour maximum working week, about changes to rules about breaks at work, about removing overtime pay when calculating holiday pay entitlement. Those are direct assaults, particularly on the working lives of those who have the least protection already. The Labour Party will continue always to stand up for those people, to make sure that their rights are properly articulated and understood, even as she pretends that those things are of no importance.

Question 5 [OQ56193] was withdrawn. Question 6, Siân Gwenllian.