The European Commission declined to comment on Friday 15 January on an article in the Financial Times indicating that the UK government is preparing to abolish worker protections under EU laws, including the Working Time Directive limiting weekly working hours to an average of no more than 48 hours; this is a directive into which the country had not opted to participate as an EU Member State under the waivers that had been granted to it.
According to the newspaper, the draft would also provide for a reduction in paid holidays, proving to be the first major test for the trade and cooperation agreement, which came into force on 1 January. It includes non-regression clauses and retaliatory measures in the event of non-compliance, along with fair competition conditions.
However, the UK government has denied the content of the article from 15 January and instead indicated that it had no intention of lowering levels of worker protection.
The Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Kwasi Kwarteng, said that the government wanted to “protect and strengthen workers’ rights in the future, not roll back on those rights”, according to the BBC. He also added that the UK "has one of the best records in the world for workers’ rights, going further than the EU in many areas”.
“Leaving the EU allows us to continue to be a benchmark and to protect and strengthen the rights of British workers”, said the government.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) reacted in a statement, saying that if these plans were implemented, they would constitute “the first major violation of the principles of fair competition” as included in the EU/UK agreement. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)